Final Closed Beta Summit Arena Breakdown

With the launch of Etheria Restart just days away, we thought we would take a peek into one of the most important parts of the game, the Arena.

In this article we are going to break down the top 50 ranked teams in Summit Arena (RTA henceforth). Looking at what Animus everyone was using, why they were being used and potential ways to deal with these Animus should you come up against them in the full launch.

A quick disclaimer, the top 50 which this article is based on was taken 24hrs before the actual close of the RTA. So there may be some differences in the exact numbers, but this still gives us a very good indication. Also due to the nature of RTA, the teams shown are simply what the player had in their last victory and we cannot see what was banned. So if some of the obvious picks seem a bit low this is likely why.

If you have read our Etherena breakdown there will be a lot of repetition in this one just bear that in mind. At the time of writing this the developers just released balance changes for a number of different Animus in the upcoming launch. So some may not be AS good as they were previously.

Even if you are not the biggest fan of PvP, we would always encourage people to do the bare minimum if they can. Whilst RTA is not linked directly to any Hyperlink charter missions, the rewards that you can get from the different arena shops are well worth the 10-15 minutes play time per day to get them. Not only that, but the progression rewards for reaching different ranks in arena are very nice, allowing you to buy out the entire Arena Shops if you get high enough. No one is saying you need to push for rank 1, but you will hurt your progression by not pushing at all.

Below is a breakdown of all the heroes used in the top 50 teams of Summit, and the number of times they appeared:

• Kraken – 19
• Sania – 17
• Tiamat – 15
• Lily – 14
• Massiah – 13
• Freya – 13
• Marvell – 10
• Lingluo – 10
• Helkid – 10
• Tsukiyo Mi – 10
• Lian – 8
• Gray – 8
• Heinrich – 7
• Rosa – 7
• Lilith – 6
• Borgne – 4
• Rilmocha – 4
• Viper – 3
• Kloss – 3
• Chiaki the Echo – 3
• Rahu – 3
• Victor – 3
• Obol – 3
• Dokidoki – 1
• Chiaki – 1
• Mia – 1
• Rin – 1
• Veronika – 1
• Diting – 1
• Fangus – 1

Looking at the above, there is a clear difference from the Etherena. Marvell is being used 75% less than he is in Etherena. The reason behind this is people knew he was likely the fastest champ in most people’s roster, so was presumably banned a lot of the time. This also once again shows the power he provided and why he received a nerf recently.

As a result of some of the obvious picks being banned, we certainly see more variety with 30 out of the 50+ Animus available showed up at least once (a 20% increase from Etherena). There is also a lot more balance in the numbers, with no clear Animus having a ridiculously higher pick rate.

There will be a lot of cross-over with our Etherena breakdown. We will also follow the same format of putting the above in groups. We’ll talk about how/why they fall into that category. If we feel that some Animus naturally fall into a number of groups, they will appear in both with a brief description.

Marvell, Freya, Kraken, Lily, Kloss, Tsukiyo Mi, DokiDoki, Chiaki the Echo and Mia

The only new addition to this group compared to Etherena is Mia. Although it’s not her primary role it is something she has on her Skill 2. As we are likely not playing on auto in RTA, there is a good chance she will open with this rather than healing if she goes first. RTA follows similar patterns to Etherena in the early days of the playing. Speed is still king. Being able to go first is crucial—although slightly less so once Bulwark gear is unlocked. All the above units bring some sort of turn meter manipulation, whether it’s boosting your team or reducing the opponent’s.

If any of the above are in the team you are facing, chances are they will be one of the first to go.

• Marvell will knock your turn meter back, place [SPD-] and [Eff Res-] on you (making it easier for other debuffs to be placed). He also has a [Silence] on his second skill, but you won’t often see this happen, because chances are you are dead before it’s required.
• Kraken and Kloss do have turn meter knock back as well, although this might not be their primary role. But it’s something to consider when you see them. Kraken’s knock back is baked into his crowd control [Freeze] so you will see this often. Kloss will generally open with her skill 3 which is [DEF-] and [SPD-] but her skill 2 does have turn meter reduction.
• Freya’s passive will both increase your turn meter and knock back the opponents depending on whether you are placing buffs or debuffs.
• Lily, Tsukiyo Mi, DokiDoki and Chiaki the Echo all bring turn meter push for your team. Chiaki the Echo is a team wide 20% push forward, DokiDoki is somewhat team wide (she increases the ally with the lowest turn meter by 12%, each time targeting whoever has the current lowest, in some cases each member of the team will get boosted once). Lily and Tsukiyo Mi bring [SPD+] and have a single target turn meter push. Lily through her twin trick and Tsukiyo Mi on her ult. With Tsukiyo Mi doing 100% push when the skill is maxed.
• As alluded to earlier, Mia’s Skill 2 provides two hits, with each hit having a chance to knock back turn meter 15%. It also has a chance to dispel 1 buff per hit as well. This could be a sneaky good opener, especially if you suspect the opponent to have someone with [Immunity]. I do not think she will be built as a go-fast opener, but it’s important for players to know her capabilities—she also doubles up as a healer and amazing support unit.

So how do you beat all of the above? Well there are a couple of ways to get around this. The first is simply to be faster. That is easier said than done especially for free to play players or if you have had bad RnG on your rolls. But if you are able to get your abilities off before them you are putting yourself in a better position to succeed. These abilities don’t necessarily have to be crowd control but they can be protective abilities like Helkid’s sound barrier, which gives you [Immunity] and [Shield] helping you withstand the barrage of abilities that will follow. For Mia specifically, the main thing is to simply be faster. Unless she is being used as an opener in Inferno Terrormaton (if so, she will have a minimum 283 speed). If you are planning on opening with someone who provides buffs, just bear in mind that unlike other Animus players might use to open with, this is actually bad because the likelihood is you will lose it if the opponent’s Mia is next in turn order. Tsukiyo Mi has AoE [Silence] which you can use to force the enemy team to only use their skill 1’s leaving you reasonably healthy. Whether you open with Tsukiyo Mi’s skill 2 or 3, if you are going first you stand a good chance.

The 2nd is Bulwark sets. Most people will make one hero super fast and the others won’t be. They are solely relying on Marvell or Kraken being able to knock your team back and control you to succeed. If they can’t do that and the rest of your team is faster than theirs, they have essentially brought a dead hero to the fight. It doesn’t need to be your entire team in Bulwark either. Towards the end of the BETA I saw this being implemented to great effect with Lingluo. She would be in Bulwark and semi fast (at least faster than the rest of your team), she would use her ultimate to cleanse any negative effects off your team and heal them. Allowing the rest of your team to continue as if there was no crowd control in the first place. There was a slow emergence of “Go 2nd” teams appearing at the end of BETA but it ended before they could take hold.

Kraken, Tiamat, Lily, Tsukiyo Mi, Lilith, Obol and Rin.

All of the above characters have some form of crowd control (CC from henceforth). Some of it you might class as “soft” CC rather than “hard” CC.

• The biggest one from the numbers is Kraken. He continued to shine wit his [Freeze] and didnt see any dip in his pick rate, due to higher priority bans. He is what I would call “hard” CC and by that I mean completely stopping you from doing ANYTHING on your turn. [Stun] sits in a similar vein to this. What a lot of people forget is Obol is more than just a [DoT] animus. He actually has a [Stun] on his skill 3 as well and with enough effect accuracy you can get a lot of reliability out of this. As a result of his skill you might find him being one of the faster champions on an opponents roster as they hope to open with the [Stun] and let the [DoT]s whittle you down over time.
• Tiamat brings [Taunt]. I have been going back and forth as to whether this is hard or soft CC. I am leaning towards soft because the enemy team can still do something, even if it is just the basic skill towards one target. I also think [Silence] is soft CC which is why Tsukiyo Mi is here. Lily can put enemy skills on cooldown forcing them to use the skill 1 which is similar to a [Silence] effect.
• Lilith places [Graceful Mischief] which is a 2 turn bomb effect. When it explodes it will place [Stun] on the opponent. So it’s delayed hard CC, although her skill 2 can be used to detonate one immediately.
• In our Etherena guide I said the following: “If the bruiser meta continues we might see Animus like Rin eventually come through.” And low and behold we did see someone use her in Summit Arena. Now this isn’t a “I told you so” moment due to the low appearance number, but it could be a sign of what’s to come. Rin has soft CC with a [Taunt] on her skill 3 which can lock enemies into using their basic skills targeting her. She also has it on her skill 1, so look out for people building her in Bramble sets. With [DEF+] and [Shield] built into her kit, she can stick around for a while in go 2nd teams—so watch out for her.

The way you combat these is exactly the same as some of the turn meter manipulators. Either be faster and get your abilities off first or have some sort of [Immunity] / general survivability to absorb the first wave.

It’s worth mentioning that some of the above mentioned are not brought with CC as the primary role in mind but they do have it in their kit, so it’s worth remembering. These also aren’t the only heroes with control.

There were not many changes to the above category between both arena modes. We saw the same usual suspects but Veronika and Mia came in and Dinah dropped out.

Freya, Gray, Kloss, Heinrich, Viper and Veronika.

The above could have been referred to as just “debuffers” but some of these guys are so much more than that so we have gone with an umbrella term of Offensive support.

• Freya has a unique debuff called [Nightmare]. The person under this debuff takes 15% increased damage (making it easier for your damage dealers to kill them) and also heals the attacker by 15% of the damage they deal.
• Gray and Kloss bring [DEF-] which does what it says on the tin. The opponents having less defense means that you will hit harder which is always a good thing. Kloss has her unique [Hack In] and [Hacking Progress] debuffs which also increase the damage the opponents take by a % amount.
• Gray also brings [Crit Rate+] which makes it easier to build your heroes. You could also put in Rosa here, Lily or Tsukiyo Mi (I could go on) for similar reasons (Bringing Offensive buffs)
• Rounding out this group is Heinrich, Veronika, Mia and Viper. I have put these here not because of the debuffs they place but because of their ability to dispel opponent buffs. Heinrich is considered best in slot for this kind of role due to his passive. Mia is great here because she also brings other support value, lastlyViper’s passive to decrease incoming Crit Damage is INCREDIBLE. I expect to see more of Veronika in the future. She has recently been buffed so she now spreads all buffs she has at a 100% chance (it used to be a 50% to spread)

How do we deal with these… it’s a familiar strategy, [Immunity]. Whether it’s through Bulwark gear or heroes like Helkid providing it. If they can’t place the debuffs, in the process you increase your chances of survival. You could also try and stack Effect Resistance, but no beta has gone on longer than a couple of weeks so we do not know how viable this strategy is at this point.

Freya, Tiamat, Helkid, Lingluo, Sania, Viper, Valerian, Chiaki, Mia and Veronika.

These animus mentioned above all bring some sort of survivability, utility, healing, or a mixture of the above.

• Freya has her [Dreamweave] buff which is labelled as a purify/cleanse. But in actual fact I see it as an [Immunity] effect. I say this because it won’t purify debuffs that are already on your animus when you gain [Dreamweave] but it will prevent the next one from being placed. She also has the built-in lifesteal effect from [Nightmare] which can provide small healing for damage dealers.
• Tiamat brings [Shield] and [HoT] (heal over time). She is very much a jack of all trades and can even be a damage dealer when she gets into her ultimate form. She also shares a % of the damage allies take so she is an incredible all-rounder.
• Helkid also has [Shield] from his skill 3 but also brings [Immunity]. Lingluo also has [Immunity] but provides healing rather than shielding.
• Sania is a healer who did see some nerfs recently, but she still has the ability to revive a fallen ally which cannot be understated. Chiaki received some buffs to her raw healing output and her unique buff Origami Guardian is a straight damage reduction. I think she may now be the SR healer to focus on.
• The new SSR additions are Veronika and Mia. Veronika brings an unkillable buff with her unique Soul Ward which prevents your HP from dropping below 1. This will be massive, especially if the opponent does not have a dispel. She also brings a [Shield] and a [ATK-]. Mia will excel in heavy buff teams due to her unique buff Rainbow Blessing. This reduces the damage she takes, allowing her to hang around for longer to heal the team. She also increases buff duration, decreases debuffs, as well as decreases skill cooldowns. A real swiss army knife.
• Two less common heroes seen are Viper and Valerian. Viper’s passive reduces crit damage taken by 30% which is massive and severely underrated in a PvP setup. I am one of these people who completely missed this until watching her get used to great effect and banned in the Timaeuss Cup. Valerian is an interesting one—she can place [Invincibility] on one ally and equalize HP amongst all allies, the only character in game who can do this currently. She also brings a plethora of buffs from [ATK+], [SPD+], [DEF+], and [Crit Rate+]. A real versatile unit that not many people have used but I’m sure is very valuable in the right hands.

How to beat these guys? Block buffs, [Wound], or buff steal will be the 3 more common ways to deal with all these. Heinrich, Veronika, Viper, and even the new Mio will be good counters to do so. Hard CC will also work wonders if you can time it in between the [Immunity] windows.

Massiah, Lian, Rosa, Rahu, Rilmocha, Borgne, Victor and Diting.

All of the above are hard hitting damage dealers. Some of them bring other utility such as turn meter steal (Lian) or hard CC (Rilmocha), but the real reason these are included is to smack. The only stand-out here that is different is Rahu—he scales from defense, so to increase his damage you also need to increase his survivability by piling defense on him. This will make him hard to deal with, especially if he is in an Artisan shell. He also just got a buff, so I expect to see a lot more of him.

We also start to see single target damage dealers here with Victor and Diting. Both of these SR units appear in the fastest PvE teams. If you can kill a boss then chances are you can kill an opponents healer in one quick alpha strike which is why they are both here. Sadly, Victor has recently received a nerf to his damage output but he can still pack a punch (along with Diting) if you need them too.

How to deal with these guys? Well generally, damage dealers are very glass-cannon (outside of Rahu). They hit hard but will shatter when sneezed upon. You can sometimes find you can kill them without having an out-and-out damage dealer on your own team—if you are built properly, that is. They will also have low resistance, so CC will keep them in check whilst you whittle them down either with your own damage dealer or using people like Tiamat and Helkid, who hit reasonably hard but can survive themselves.

As mentioned at the start we saw a slight increase in character variety, with 30 different Animus used out of the 50+ available. There are still some clear standouts as we see from stats but with only one player able to use a certain Animus, we had no choice but to branch out. You cant win a RTA match in the draft, but you can certainly lose it. Either by having a limited roster or just not understanding what certain Animus do so I hope I have at least helped with the latter. The full launch will introduce pre bans and protected picks with adds a whole new dimension so it will be interesting to see how this changes things. Once again the introduction of Bulwark gear will also effect proceedings. But until then, speed will remain king and even after this introduction of Bulwark, not many people on the ladder will lean into a stall/Go second team—especially as they will have invested in a Speed team to get to where they are now.

Its very hard to give a commonly seen team. At early stages of the RTA ladder it will replicate Etherena but as you can see from the image in the “numbers” section, once you start climbing things start to change.

Hopefully the above has shed some light on what to expect in the early days of arena in Etheria Restart.