Best HP Burn Champions in Raid Shadow Legends (Complete Guide)
Discover the best HP Burn champions in Raid Shadow Legends. Learn which champions are strongest for Spider, Hydra, and PvP.
How HP Burn Works in Raid Shadow Legends
What HP Burn Debuffs Do
HP Burn deals 3% of an enemy’s MAX HP to them at the start of their turn, then hits all other characters on their team with that damage as well. An enemy can only have one HP Burn debuff at a time.
There are a few complications to know about HP Burn:
- Like Poisons, some champions can Activate HP Burn debuffs, causing them to instantly do damage.
- The Incinerate blessing increases the damage of HP Burn debuffs substantially in PvP content (Arena and Siege).
- The limited-edition Skull of Treason relic boosts HP Burn damage against higher MAX HP enemies.
- Enemies under Stoneskin buffs are extra vulnerable to HP Burn damage, taking 5x damage from them.
Why HP Burn Is Powerful for Boss Fights
Compared to Poison debuffs, HP Burn has a lower total damage potential: it does 3% as opposed to 5% damage; and you cannot apply it multiple times like Poison. However, in situations where there are many enemy targets, such as the Spider Dungeon where there are 10 small spiderlings alongside the boss, the splash damage of HP Burn can add up to a huge amount of damage very quickly.
Certain bosses also have strict caps for how much damage they can take from MAX HP hits, and the HP Burn cap is often much higher than the Poison one, causing a 3% Burn to actually outdamage a 5% Poison in some fights (Amius, for example; yeah, it’s silly!).
HP Burn is particularly valuable for:
- The Spider Dungeon
- Most Doom Tower bosses
- Ice Golem Dungeon (Hard difficulty)
- Amius
- Hydra Clan Boss
- Chimera Clan Boss
Why HP Burn Champions Are Important
Spider Dungeon Strategy
The Spider dungeon is the ideal fight for HP Burn because there are up to 11 enemies on the Spider’s side in the fight, giving a huge amount of splash damage for HP Burn!
A classic strategy for Normal difficulty is to use Drex’thar Bloodtwin, a free champion earned from Tag Team Arena, to tank spiderlings’ attacks, since he places HP Burn with his passive when hit. Every time a spiderling takes a turn, it will deal a 3% MAX HP hit to the main Spider, wearing it down over time. In this strategy, you should make sure to bring plenty of healing to keep Drex’thar alive, and to avoid killing the spiderlings so the Burns can activate on their turns.
For Hard difficulty, the Spider boss becomes considerably faster, so the strategy often changes to utilise Activate HP Burn champions instead. These champions are very rare, but they can instantly trigger Burns, meaning that you don’t have to wait for the spiderlings to actually take any turns.
See our Spider Guide for more info.
Clan Boss Damage Strategies
HP Burn is also very valuable against the Clan Bosses.
Demon Lord will take decent damage off HP Burn, and it is a great entry-way into progressing on this boss–much like Poison. Geomancer is also an absolute MVP for accessible damage here.
HP Burn is probably the easiest way to start progressing on Hydra, since there are 4 total Hydra Heads, making the splash damage very powerful over time. The Heads are also quite fast, letting the HP Burns quickly get used up, and the Head of Blight even takes bonus damage from Burns.
See our Hydra Guide for more info.
Chimera is very similar to Demon Lord, with the added benefit that several of the Trials require (or are easier to complete) by teams which have HP Burn, making it a valuable debuff to bring in your team.
PvP (Arena and Siege) Strategies
Thanks to the Incinerate blessing, HP Burns can do decent damage even in shorter PvP fights.
The main reason that HP Burn is used, however, is due to the whopping 5x damage bonus that it gains against Stoneskin buffs, allowing you to quickly rip through Stoneskin shields with a good HP Burn champion–one of the few ways to actually counter Stoneskin.
Note that HP Burn in PvP is usually limited to very premium champions who can both place but also activate the HP Burns; simply placing them is usually not enough, since many enemies can Remove Debuffs or take their turn before their Stoneskin is depleted. Also note that HP Burn is very ineffective against the new Mercurial set with its Total Guard buffs, so we expect this PvP strategy to become more niche over the course of 2026.
Best HP Burn Champions in Raid
Here we’ve listed 10 of the most important Poisoners in the game: note that this list is not exhaustive, but it should steer you in the right direction for knowing what makes these types of champions so powerful! Check out our Champion Tier List for more info.
SELINIA NIGHTCLOAK
Selinia is very good at placing and extending HP Burn against a single-target, and brings decent crit-damage against multiple enemies as well, making her the ultimate budget option for this list. She quite poor at Spider fights, however, due to the limited and random nature of her Burn.
COFFIN SMASHER
Coffin Smasher is another great budget option, placing HP Burn on a single-target. He also brings Decrease ATK and some damage reduction against AoE attacks for your team, making him a clear Demon Lord specialist for new players.
Mordecai
Mordecai is a big step up over the rares, bringing very consistent AoE HP Burn on his A3. Due to this not being an attack, it is affinity-friendly and can bypass the Poison Cloud debuff (thereby disabling it) in Hydra. He brings Increase ATK and Turn Meter manipulation as well, making him a staple of most early-mid game accounts in multiple areas of the game.
Skraank
GEOMANCER
Geomancer is arguably the best epic in the game, bringing a single-target HP Burn with Weaken on a 3-turn cooldown and 3-turn duration. The true secret to his power, however, is his passive, which enables him to deal tons of small Enemy MAX HP damage hits to enemies who attack your team while affected by his Burn–oh, and he brings some nice damage reduction and other useful debuffs and effects as well!
ARTAK
Artak is a fantastic legendary who does two simple things: he applies HP Burn in AoE with his A3; then he activates HP Burn in AoE with his A2. The rest is gravy, but he can be very tanky and is a fantastic choice for Ice Golem Hard difficulty, where HP Burns can bypass the counterattacks from the boss.
VULKANOS FUMOR
Vulkanos is an incredibly unique HP Burn champion, since his Burns come from his passive. Much like Nell with Poisons, he is at his strongest in PvP when facing enemies who have buff-heavy teams, melting through them like hot knife through butter. Note that as a Faction Unity champion, he needs Demonspawn allies on his team, and he is only available during specific special events throughout the year.
SULFURYION
Sulfuryion is perhaps the ultimate apply and activate HP Burn champion: he does it both in the same ability, and it’s affinity friendly! This makes him a menace against any Spider boss, and one of the best anti-stoneskin champions in PvP. On top of this, he brings a full team revive and substantial shielding and turn meter boosting.
Gizmak the Terrible
Gizmak is a mythical dedicated to HP Burn, able to both place and activate it in his Base Form alongside bringing many buffs for your team. In his Alternate Form, he can capitalise on those Burns, dealing massive damage to any enemy affected by HP Burn, while tanking for your team at the same time.
ASH’NAR DRAGONSOUL
Ash’nar is a Burn champion who protects your team from Burns: while he is on your team, HP Burn debuffs on your champions will actually heal them instead of hurting them, turning dangerous foes like Vulkanos into a source of healing instead. He brings a huge amount of utility to your teams on top of that: the biggest benefit being a large damage boost for each Burn active in the fight. As a mythical, he has an entire Alternate Form as well, which deals massive damage to enemies, with huge damage boosts against enemies under HP Burn.
How to Build HP Burn Champions
ACC Requirements
The most important thing for HP Burn champions is to have enough ACC to land your Burns. To land debuffs consistently, you should aim to have about 25 ACC more than the enemy’s RES stat. Use our Raid Stages Tool to check any enemy in any area of the game. Dragon 20, for example, has 200 RES, so you should aim for 225 ACC.
SPD Requirements
The more turns you take, the more Burns you can apply or activate!
Against high-SPD bosses like Hydra or Chimera, you will need good SPD on your Burner to maintain HP Burns consistently. If you are using HP Burn Activation, the SPD requirements will go even higher, since you will be using up the debuffs at a much faster rate.
Recommended Artifact Sets
Any gear sets which give ACC or SPD are fantastic, such as Speed, Perception, or Feral sets.
Special mention can be made of Reflex and Regeneration sets: Reflex reduces your cooldowns, allowing you to place your HP Burns more often; Regeneration gives you some healing every turn, which often plays a key role in solo teams using HP Burn champions.
Blessings and Relics
The Incinerate blessing is a specialised HP Burn blessing but it only works in PvP (Arena and Siege). For PvE content, consider Brimstone (it synergises well with Burners who are often ACC-building, anti-boss specialists).
The Skull of Treason relic is the only specialised HP Burn relic: unfortuantely, it was a limited-edition relic and is not permanently obtainable; but luckily it is not a “must have” relic. Golden Elixir (Epic) or the Hoarder’s Cauldron (Rare) are both good budget options, giving self-healing and bonus ACC respectively. The Wand of Submission is strong in PvP to protect your burner from the Polymorph blessing.