Greetings Captains! Today we’re here to dive deeper into Arena strategy and discuss some of the winning combos that players frequently use to rise up the ranks.
There are many ways to win in the Arena, but as with any competitive game, some meta trends develop. These will fluctuate depending on updates and season features over time.
Below, we’ll walk you through some of the strategies that can lead to Arena success, but you’ll need to experiment to find out what works best for you.
Val Speed
This is by far the most popular Arena strategy at the time of writing this article. Valentine is a Mercenary that can only be achieved in-game through the end of season rewards based on HQ Level. She’s fast, hits hard and has two area of effect skills that blast the entire opposing team with tons of damage.
Valentine has one weakness though… she’s often so fragile she crumbles as soon as she’s hit! If you have a fast, high enough attack Valentine though, she won’t need to do anything beyond that first devastating hit to win.
That brings us to one other key component of this strategy… Akari! Akari’s Leader Skill is Blade Unleash: “In Arena combat, increase ally ATK by 20% and ATK SPD by 10%.” Regardless of Akari’s level, everyone on the team will receive these bonuses. This is great for Valentine, which is why you’ll often see a very low level Akari at the head of an opposing team. She doesn’t need to do anything but lead at the start to be a game changer.
Big Boys
This strategy has been growing more popular in response to the previously mentioned technique. In this strategy, you prioritize bulk on your team so you can survive Valentine’s match-starting nuke. You don’t care as much about going first. Your game is to survive the first wave and knock them down one by one.
A usual staple of this team will be William and/or Lucas. Their ability to create shields and defense boost while also soaking up a ton of damage can’t be overlooked. Most of these Mercenaries will feel like Val’s first hit is a scratch at best.
You still need to do some damage though, which is where Mercenaries like Torsten, Alex or Zahra could come into play. Torsten’s Berserker Rage deals more damage the more damage he’s taken… so if Valentine hits him early, she could be signing her own death warrant! Alex’s AOE bombs finish the battle for you if you can just stay alive long enough. Zahra will take extra damage from Valentine due to type advantage, but she’s bulky enough to survive and she claps back with some powerful hits.
Perhaps the most crucial lynchpin of this strategy is Jin Ryu. In the leader spot, he’ll slap a stun on the entire enemy team when they first hit you. This may miss a few, but often you’ll absorb that first hit then find the entire opposing team sitting ducks. It also doesn’t hurt that Jin Ryu can deal MASSIVE damage with his Dragon’s Might Skill – this will hit three times, remove all the enemy’s buffs AND call a joint attack with two allies. Between this and Torsten’s Berserker’s Rage, you usually have two one-shots to toss around.
Debuff to Death
This strategy isn’t quite as popular as the two above, but it has some definite merit if you can build your team right. It won’t KO people as fast as the above options, however, which means you’ll have to work harder to hold that top spot in the last moments of an Arena Season.
To make this work, you’ll need to employ Mercenaries that specialize in debuffs. Think Laction, Emma, Zarkhan, Wang, etc. You’ll use them to paralyze the enemy and easily walk to victory.
Zarkhan is big here. His ability to slap sleep, heal blocks and damage over time on all enemies simultaneously makes him a great choice for an opening salvo.
Emma can also play a critical role. Her attacks deal more damage per debuff on the enemy, making her absolutely deadly single target damage once you’ve stacked a healthy amount of status effects on the opposing team. Perhaps most enticing, her Taboo Wave can spread debuffs from the target to everyone else. When pointed at sleeping or stunned enemies, this can be game-changing.
Some less often thought of debuffers that can round out your team are out there too. Camilla’s Boulons Multiple AOE can silence everyone. Alex’s bombs can tick away while the enemy is sleeping before explosively finishing them off. Feeling too squishy? Wang’s Judgement Day is one of the most powerful stunning attacks in the game, and also has the potential to revive an ally.
Tons of Ways to Win
The arena is a bit more nuanced than it seems at first glance. Just because everyone is using one set of tactics doesn’t mean you have to. What’s your winning formula in the arena?
You never need to lock into one style. You can always switch your team up in the arena… and indeed you should based on who your opponents are in that match!
We’ll be back next time to focus on the Guild Arena. Until then, get out there and fight for that rank! That God of the Arena title isn’t going to win itself!
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