You need to understand the basic Arena mechanics if you want to perform better consistently. This article covers everything you need to know to build a good Arena lineup in the early game.
Understanding Hero Classes
Think of your heroes like Rock, Paper, Scissors:
- Infantry beats Cavalry (Infantry does 10% extra damage to Cavalry)
- Cavalry beat Archer (Cavalry do 10% extra damage to Archer)
- Archer beat Infantry (Archer do 10% extra damage to Infantry)
Tip: Always check the enemy lineup and adjust your hero placements accordingly. If you know a certain hero counters another, position your heroes strategically.
Leveling Up Your Heroes
Your heroes have two skill types:
- Battle Skills (Used in Arena & Conquest)
- Expedition Skills (Used for the world map battles. These are not relevant for Arena)
Tip: Only level up the skills of the heroes you use in your main Arena lineup. Don’t waste manuals on every hero. This applies to Battle skills only.
Hero Ascension (Stars) also boosts Power, HP, Attack, and Defense. Prioritize ascending your top 3 heroes (one from each class) for the biggest impact.
Arena Lineup Basics
In Arena battles, AoE (Area of Effect) damage and Crowd Control skills are extremely important. Heroes with stuns, knockbacks, or other control effects are usually the strongest choices in Arena.
These heroes can damage multiple enemies at the same time while also clearing Escorts very quickly. Some of the best examples are:
- Jabel
- Saul
- Amadeus
- Helga
- Marlin
Marlin is especially considered one of the strongest Arena heroes because his skills provide both AoE damage and stuns.
When building your Arena lineup, always read hero skill descriptions carefully. Prioritize heroes with:
- AoE damage
- Stuns
- Knockbacks
- Crowd Control effects
After that, test your lineup in actual battles and adjust it depending on your opponent’s setup.
Your frontline should mainly use Infantry heroes with strong crowd control skills, such as Howard, Helga, or Amadeus.
Your main damage dealer should usually be placed in the safest position, which is the middle spot in the backline. Ideally, this should be an Archer hero, although some strong Cavalry heroes can also work well there.
Suggested Free-to-Play (F2P) Lineup for Early Game:
- Howard
- Chenko
- Quinn
- Jabel
- Diana
This is a good early-game F2P lineup with a good balance of frontline durability, crowd control, and AoE damage.
Suggested Pay-to-Win (P2W) Lineup for Early Game:
- Amadeus
- Helga
- Jabel
- Diana
- Saul
This lineup is much stronger overall because of powerful P2W heroes like Amadeus, Helga, and Saul. It performs well in early Arena battles and can dominate most Gen 1 matchups.
Roman and Arena Boosts
Masters were added to the game in the April 2026 update, and the Arena-focused Master is Roman.
Roman provides passive Arena boosts through his skills. His first skill increases the Attack and Health of hero Escorts, while his fourth skill boosts the Attack and Health of your Arena heroes themselves.
Both of these boosts can reach up to 20% at max skill level, making Roman very useful for competitive Arena players.
If you are serious about Arena, upgrading Roman is very important because your opponent may already have a well-upgraded Roman giving them a major stat advantage. Those passive boosts can easily decide the outcome of close battles.
You can read my Masters Upgrade Priority Guide for a more detailed explanation about Masters and their skill upgrade priorities.
Important: Masters unlock when the server (kingdom) is around 110–120 days old.
Gearing Up for Battle
Your priority should be getting full Mythic Hero Gear for your top 3 heroes. Upgrade it consistently. Once your Mythic gear reaches +20, you can use Mastery Forging and Forgehammers to enhance it further.
Arena Store Tip: Only spend Arena Tokens on Custom Mythic Gear Chest (12,000 tokens required). Don’t waste tokens on anything else!
Arena Challenges: How Many Should You Do?
- You get 5 free challenges per day
- You can buy 5 extra challenges using gems
- Total gem cost for extra challenges: 2,100 gems/day (or 14,700 gems/week)
Buying extra Arena challenges is worth it for spenders, but it is not recommended for F2Ps or low spenders.
You would need to spend around 2,100 gems per day on extra challenges, and doing that regularly can hurt your gem savings. Because of this, you may struggle to keep up with Hero Roulette events, which are much more important for unlocking and upgrading heroes.
How Arena Points Work
- Everyone starts with 1,000 points at the beginning of the week
- Winning earns you +10 to +12 points (depending on your opponent’s rank)
- Losing doesn’t remove points, but if someone beats your lineup (when you are defending), you lose points.
- You get more points when there is a bigger star difference between you and the player you are attacking.
Choosing the Right Opponent
NEVER challenge your own alliance members! Keeping them on the leaderboard benefits your team.
When selecting an opponent, look at:
- Your power vs. their power
- Your points vs. their points
- Their defensive lineup
If you’re stronger than them and they have higher points, challenge them! Otherwise, you should look into other targets.
Tip: Check your battle history; if someone beat you earlier and you’re now stronger, challenge them back to reclaim points.
Arena Reset Strategy
If you can get online a few minutes before the daily reset at UTC 0:00, you can get some easy extra Arena rewards. This is a strategy commonly used by hardcore F2Ps and low spenders.
To do this, log in around 2–3 minutes before the reset and follow these steps:
- Enter a battle
- Click Pause → Retreat
- Instantly finish the match
This allows you to quickly complete all your Arena matches within a few minutes and secure your rank right before the reset.
Since most players will not have enough time to attack you in the final moments, you are much less likely to lose points before rewards are distributed. This helps you stay higher on the leaderboard and earn better rewards.