This is a starting guide for AFK Arena because many mistakes are made by new players, particularly in regards how your heroes evolve through the game. If you want to have all the knowledge required to begin an adventure correctly, you are in the right place! Follow the guide for beginners for early game!
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The global chat is your main ally!
If you have any doubt about your advancement in game, talk it over in chat ! Many players take part in it and most of them will be glad to help you in any way possible. But look out, you are not protected from people who thinks they know what they are talking about when, in reality, it is far from that. Ask for multiple answers to be safe.
Beginner team and best starting heroes
Like in many other game (mostly mobile game), Lilith offers you a Elite rank hero once you finish the tutorial, which is in AFK Arena the whole first chapter. This hero being randomized from all the possible Mythic tier heroes (see Ascension system), it can be more or less useful for the beginning of your adventure. Here is, in my opinion, the heroes which would help you the most to progress quickly, and conversely the one that will require more time to be useful. If you feel like it, you can still restart the game in order to get a more suitable hero, finishing the first chapter doesn’t take more than 10 minutes once you are used to it.
Must have: Khasos & Shemira
Both heroes have high AoE damage and really useful life leech. The only dissimilarity with other heroes that I would classify as really good for starter is that it is possible to buy both of them really quickly in game, which will be really useful to ascend them to higher rank really quick.
Really good: Brutus, Nemora & Kaz
These heroes have a really nice skill set to help you start the game in the right manner. Nemora is an exception, she deals little to no damage but is a really great support with a lot of heals. Like Khasos & Shemira, it is possible to buy her really quickly in the same way.
To avoid: Isabella, Vurk, Grezhul & Ulmus
Those heroes aren’t bad heroes, far from that, it is just the fact that they only shine after a definite level or in the right team composition. It is possible to use them later, but they are all but an ideal hero to start the game serenely.
Ascension guide for heroes
First of all, you need to know that all the heroes available in game can not obtain the max ascension available, which is Mythic+. Only heroes classified as “Mythic Heroes” in their portrait can reach that stage. The first rule to never transgress is : Never sacrifice a hero which can become Mythic through ascension if not necessary. In the long run, those are the strongest in the game.
Second rule, and it is about something that many player do (me too, I never really thought about it when I started), try to level a single hero which can go to Mythic from Legendary+ for each faction. Why ? It is linked to the first rule. The gap between Legendary+ and Mythic is quite big, it allows you to go over the level 160 which account for a massive bonus in evolution. If in your ascension you anticipated that exact time and in your team you have a little Mythic hero which does everything for you and his 2 Legendary+ friends, you will have less remorse to use fodder for your main carry.
Conversely, if you have upgraded multiple heroes that can go through to Mythic at Legendary+ stage, you will have to upgrade other heroes as fodder before you are able to get a Mythic one, which is a big time loss!
For the ascension, this is how it goes:
Rare to Rare+
Base hero (Rare) and 2 copies of it (Rare)
Rare+ to Elite
Base hero (Rare+) and 2 other Rare+ heroes from the same Faction
Elite to Elite+
Base hero (Elite) and 1 copy of it (Elite)
Elite+ to Legendary
Base hero (Elite+) and 2 other Elite+ heroes from the same Faction
Legendary to Legendary+
Base hero (Legendary) and 1 copy of it (Elite+)
Legendary+ to Mythic
Base hero (Legendary+) and 2 other Legendary+ heroes from the same Faction
Mythic to Mythic+
Base hero (Mythic) and 2 copies of it (Elite+)
As you can see, the journey to Mythic is very long. So, when you start the game, do not focus only on Mythic heroes, try to create a synergy for your team, a team with only heroes capable of going to Mythic will not be better than a really nicely built team of Legendary+ heroes.
What to do with my diamonds?
At the beginning, don’t ask too many questions, just summon heroes, again, again, and again. You will need a lot of heroes in order to make a viable team and you will gain equipment through the fights. Don’t ask yourself too many question at that moment ! It is strongly advised to buy the minimum equipment possible to progress, but if you are stuck for quite a while at the exact same stage, it can help you overcome that issue.
Build your own team
The key element in order to succeed is to have a nicely balanced team. At least one tank in front and 2 damage dealer at the back. The healer is not mandatory if one of your damage dealer is capable of self healing. I can not tell you exactly which hero to upgrade in first, it depends on what you manage to draw through summoning. I joined a tier list I made myself which can give you a vague idea about which hero is strong at any stage in order to help you to be more efficient at team building (the tier list is made to start at level 81 because it is the level at which every hero have access to all its abilities). If you have any doubt, you can ask in global chat like said earlier.
It is also really important to take into account the faction bonus available.
Quickly choose 1 or 2 factions around which you will build your team and stay on that idea! Faction scrolls that you will earn at the 6th day should be used on those factions. Do not disturb your team balance by trying to go too quickly through the ascension. If one of the heroes of your team can be used for ascension, do not use his him as fodder, be patient.
Here is a list which categorize each hero that can help you progress really quickly, no matter where you are at : easy to access and really efficient.
(This list only contains Legendary+ heroes which you should not include in your late game team. This guide being here to help your start your adventure, the end game team composition will not be seen in here)
Solo carry
Heroes able to do every single fight by themselves.
Saveas, the machine gun : Mauler, major power break : level 121, efficacity : immediate
Saveas is a hero with an enormous attack speed and sustain, his attacks only focus a single target but inflicts huge damage allowing him to win fights alone.
Works well with: A tank (any), Khasos (life leech buff), Belinda (attack speed buff), Lyca (haste buff).
Vedan, the untouchable: Graveborn, major power break : level 121, efficacity : immediate
Vedan’s ultimate is what makes him the perfect solo carry. Untouchable with a big life leech, it gives him the opportunity to win many fights by himself.
Works well with: About anything and everything, this hero is independent and his ultimate works with allies buffs.
The others tips
Heroes able to complete your team with their efficiency.
Arden, the crown control king: Wilder, major power break: level 141, efficacity : immediate
Arden is a must have for many team composition, even in late game. His crown control, which affects 3 targets once level 141 reached, and remove the possibility for enemies to dodge. He will be useful in any situation where you need to contain an enemy mobility.
Works well with: The sacred trinity (Arden + Lyca and Nemora) gives you crown control, support and heal for your big carry.
Hogan, the moustached knight: Lightbearer, major power break: none, efficacity: immediate
Do not trust his appearance of hero given for free by the game at the start. Hogan is a really complete tank offering nice damage, stunning crowd control on top of being tanky.
Works well with: About every team which need a front lane tank, but especially Belinda and other Lightbearer heroes to benefit from the faction bonus.
Silvina, the grim assassin: Graveborn, major power spike : level 101, efficacity: level 61
Silvina is the best assassin implemented in the game as of the date of redaction of this guide. At the start of each fight, she directly leaps on the weakest of the backline mage which allows you to get rid of it quickly.
Works well with: About anything and everything, she fits nicely in every team that need a hero with a nice burst to clean up the way to victory.
Moving forward through the game: key elements to succeed
This section got everything and anything, it regroups tips to progress smoothly but which doesn’t deserve their own section.
Rickety Cart: Your best ally
The Rickety Cart allow you to reset your heroes for only 20 diamonds each without losing any gold, experience or Hero’s essence ! The cost is close to free and it let you try multiple compositions if you are stuck in the story. Do not hesitate about trying different setups, sometimes you may succeed by trying random group of heroes together. On top of that functionality, the second tab allow you to recycle your green tier heroes for Rickety Cart token and Hero’s essence !
Adventurer’s Outpost: Free stat bonuses!
The Adventurer’s Outpost is filling up by adding your own heroes OR the one from your friends and your guild. Do not hesitate to chase players around in order to fill all the slots needed in order to complete the outpost to get all the bonuses available. The boost shown works only on the heroes present in each union.
A bit too much gold? Invest in Hero’s essence!
You will notice quite quickly that you accumulate gold REALLY quick whereas the nice purple powder known as Hero’s essence which is required to progress is quite slow to build up. Do not leave too much gold on the side, use it to stack Hero’s essence through the daily deal in you shop. The quantity needed when you arrive around the beginning of the end game are pretty tremendous so it is wiser to start to hoard it early.
Need equipment? NEVER buy it in the shop!
In the Arcane Labyrinth, you may encounter a shop in the 2nd and 3rd floor. If you need to buy a piece of equipment (even though I would recommend to wait to be at the Mythic tier equipment) you should go on them ! They sell equipment from the maximum rarity available to you with a 40% discount. If what you are looking for is not available at that time, you will have to wait 2 days and hope for a better offer during you next run of the Arcane Labyrinth!
The most important thing to always remember is to have fun. Do not feel frustrated because some other player may progress faster than you do. This game is all but a contest because, let’s face it, the PvP rewards are little to nothing. If you have any suggestion for this guide, do not hesitate to contact me to let me know about it!
9 advices to new players
Use your gems exclusively in x10 invocations
Don’t buy equipment or dust with them, you’ll get these things eventually. Purple fragments are kinda worth it if there’s an offer, I usually buy them, but that’s up to you.
Buy everyday the dust offer with gold in the store
Dust is very important so it’s better to stored it so you can keep leveling your heroes once you hit the level cap.
You can get rid of the green heroes you don’t need
In Ranhorn (the city), there’s a building named Rickety Cart. In that building, you can “retire heroes”, sacrificing them for dust. I recommend to save one of each type to do bounty missions until you see that you don’t need them anymore.
Try to hold your fast rewards as much as you can
If you are at that point that every few hours you can check the game, upgrade some heroes and advance in the story, it’s better to save the fast reward and collect it near the day change. This way you maximize more that mechanic. BUT if you check the game before sleep and the day already change, and you estimate that with the fast reward you can upgrade your heroes enough to pass a few stages, totally go for it, because your “sleep hours” are going to give you more then.
You can level up your heroes further their ascension level with the Resonating Crystal
For example if you focus on leveling heroes that are Epic+, and you get them all above 101, all your Epic heroes in the crystal will have that level. This way you can level up, for example, an Epic Brutus to level 141 and things like that.
Don’t ascend heroes that you’re not using as crazy
It’s better to save them until you see a clear use for them. Also, usually there’s not a good idea to sacrifice heroes from the mythical tier. Ask before do something like this if you don’t have a clear idea of what are you doing.
For you Arcane Labyrinth runs
Focus on health and energy regeneration, life leech and sustain in general.
It’s better to have a good and healthy team and pass the battles without losing anybody.
To battle the RNG of the game, there’s a trick you can do: if you see the battle don’t go as you wanted, press the pause button and then exit the battle. The battle will be canceled and you can try again without losing anything. This is great to test things out and see what is the better way to win a battle without losses.
For legendary relics, I recommend to avoid the one that make your enemies start at 50% of life, but regenerate it over time. I screw up a lot of runs because of that relic, so yeah, avoid it at all cost. The rune that trap all enemies in a spider web at the start of the battle doesn’t sound very good in the description, but it’s actually one of the best legendaries runes so far.
If you find a Nemora and you don’t have one, pick her. He’s the best heroe to have in the lab because of his heal. Khasos is really good to if it’s lvl 61 or more, because it gives your team life leech.
Some more about heroes
Talking about heroes it may took too long, so I will just mention some very good heroes that you probably wanna try out if you have them: Saveas, Vedan, Silvina, Arden, Golus, Hogan, Brutus, Lucius, Belinda, Khasos, Nemora, Shemira, Lyca and Tasi.
Personally I found Maulers the most friendly faction to focus on. You just need something to tank and Saveas to do damage (Saveas is by far the best heroe to focus early on, it’s easy to obtain and can carry you until chapter 15 or so). Golus is a very good tank for the early game. You can use maulers with wilders and do something like Golus, Saveas, Nemora, Arden + another frontliner.
One lineup I will look for every time is Golus, Saveas, Arden, Khasos and Nemora. The 3 first are very easy heroes to obtain and to level up, and the two last are buyable in the labyrinth store, so they are very f2p friendly too. You can buy one of them in your first week of game, and save for the other one and use something else in the meantime.
Anyway this is my personal opinion. I encourage you to test the heroes you got and to research here and in the discord for more information. Vedan and Silvina are another two great options to focus on, but I just found Saveas way better and maulers an easier faction to focus and play.
IF you have been really lucky with pulls and you have a good Shemira or Brutus, they are the best carries in the game. You can focus on level them as much as you can and build a team around them. Shemira, Brutus or Lucius (pick two) as frontliners and Nemora, Arden, Lyca or Tasi (pick three) as supports is one of the best lineups in the game.
Finally, be patient
This game is very slow. Once you do your dailies, your arena attacks, guild hunts and so, you don’t have much more to do. The first days you can check every hour or so because you will need way fewer resources to upgrade your heroes, so you can advance in the story a few chapters every few hours, but after a month you may need like one week to pass a stage. So yeah, sit down and relax, you’re doing great 🙂
