Michelangelo – Champion Spotlight

Fans of Renaissance painters were in shambles this week when the new crossover IP collab with RAID: Shadow Legends was revealed to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles instead.

In this guide we break down everything you need to know about Free Login Legendary Michelangelo, from how his abilities work to his best gear sets, blessings, and more!

Check out our dedicated Champion page for Michelangelo for even more info and ratings!

Michelangelo is an incredibly well-rounded champion, bringing strong damage, great personal survivability, and tons of top-tier debuffs for his teams!

A1 – BOO-YAH!

Mikey’s A1 is a decent damage dealing attack, which will consistently maintain the Increase ATK buff on him–further boosting his damage and self-Shielding! This will even more effective when pairing him up with other Turtles through his passive.

A2 – EXPRESS DELIVERY!

This is an extremely good move, placing Decrease DEF and then spreading ALL debuffs–there are very few champions in the entire game who can spread all debuffs (Chalco the Blind and Ash’nar Dragonsoul–both very high rarity champions), making this an incredibly useful move to have on a free login champion. It will also Stun your primary target as well (the Stun cannot be spread).

A3 – SHELL CYCLONE

Great AoE damage paired with Decrease ATK and Leech is a phenomenal move, providing everything a new player needs to keep their team alive through all the early-game content. The Taunt buff is very unusual, particularly on a damage dealer, but Mikey’s passive makes this make sense. The only downside of this move is the 4-turn cooldown being slightly on the long side, but it’s so packed with value that it’s fair enough–more reason to use Merciless set if possible for some cooldown reduction.

P1 – PARTY DUDE

What a passive!

Firstly, we have the same bonus as all the Turtles, where they will join in together on any of their attacks. This is incredibly strong on Michelangelo since it enables him to have essentially constant uptime on his Increase ATK buff, and if you build him with good SPD, he will be taking lots of turns to activate the passive on the other Turtles in turn.

Secondly, he has a base 15% chance to Evade, increasing to 30% if he has his Taunt buff. This effect is random enough that you can’t always rely on it, but it happens enough to make him much more survivable than expected–Evade not only dodges all damage, but all effects as well, such as an Armanz trying to steal your Turn Meter and Stun you with his A2!

Finally, he gains a 300% ATK Shield whenever he takes damage, on a 1-turn cooldown. Thanks to the high uptime of his self-Increase ATK buff, this can be a very sizable Shield! Between this and his Evades, he is a surprisingly tanky champion, and this is what makes the Taunt buff on his A3 viable for him.

AURA – 70 ACC IN ALL BATTLES

This is a strong ACC Aura, and for new players this is probably enough ACC to get Mikey placing his debuffs in all early content! It’s also a great aura in general, and will be useful in all progression content in the game apart from Arena and Siege (where you would much rather use SPD auras).

As you can see from the breakdown above, Mikey is an amazing generally useful champion who can be used almost anywhere in the game. Nonetheless, here are some ideas for where to use him!

TURTLE TEAMS

Not an area, but a type of team: combine Mikey with the other Turtles (Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo) to boost all of their power.

Donatello is a strong option due to providing supporting buffs, cooldown reduction, and healing.

Rapahael doesn’t help Mikey, but Mikey helps him by providing multiple effects to keep Raph alive.

Leonardo provides even more defensive buffs to make your team super resilient, though Mikey’s Taunt buff draws attacks away from Leo and his Counterattack buff.

The more Turtles you run together, the better their A1 spamming passives will be, so don’t be scared to try squeeze 3 or even 4 into a team and see what happens!

CLAN BOSSES

Mikey is a great option for all of the Clan Bosses in the game due to the core debuffs that he brings alongside his own high survivability. You’ll find Mikey much easier to keep alive than other damage dealers, and he will do respectable damage as well.

He’s particularly good against Hydra, since Spreading All Debuffs on his A2 will help you maintain debuffs on all Hydra heads, even as they keep respawning.

DUNGEONS

Likewise, Mikey is a surefire pick for progressing through all the normal dungeons, thanks to his high survivability and great debuffs.

PHANTOM SHOGUN

This dungeon has the unique mechanic where the boss targetting can be controlled by Taunt: let the Shogun land his first attack on another damage dealer, then redirect to Mikey with his Taunt buff.

Best Stats

The key stats to look for on Michelangelo are:

1. ACC
2. 100% C.RATE%
3. SPD
4. ATK%
5. C.DMG%

ACC is essential to place his debuffs. For normal dungeons, Doom Tower, Demon Lord etc., 200 ACC is usually the goal, but Mikey only needs 150. For hard dungeons, Doom Tower, Nightmare Hydra etc., 350-400 ACC is usually needed, but Mikey only needs 260-300. More ACC than this is not needed!

100% C.RATE% is the biggest damage boost and activates the bonuses on his abilities.

SPD is essential to rotate through his cooldowns.

C.DMG% and ATK% should be stacked as much as possible after achieving your other stats. Use our Optimiser Tool to work out the perfect ratio based on your actual gear.

Best Gear Sets

The best sets for Michelangelo are:

1. Merciless
2. Lethal
3. Savage
4. Perception
5. Pinpoint
6. Stoneskin

As with almost every damage dealer, we want to build as much Ignore Defence as possible for maximum damage: Merciless is best; followed by Lethal; followed by Savage; followed by Instinct; followed by Cruel.

Perception, Pinpoint, Speed, Accuracy, or any similar sets are all viable when trying to build enough SPD and ACC.

Stoneskin is only used if you intend to use him in PvP, where it is borderline essential.

Best Masteries

Check out our dedicated Michelangelo champion page to see his best masteries!

Blessings and Relics will drastically increase Mikey’s damage, so it’s essential to make the right choices. Luckily, you’ll get his 5-star Soul for FREE by completing the Michelangelo Chase Event, so make sure to login and claim it to get the most out of this party dude!

Best Blessings

Check out our Blessings Tier List for full details on all Blessings!

There are a few viable Blessings:

1. Nature’s Wrath (Epic): This is the best personal damage option for PvE content from 1-5 star.
2. Crushing Rend (Epic): This becomes the best personal damage option for PvE content at 6-star only.
3. Brimstone (Legendary): This is the best team damage option for PvE, and is the go-to pick if Mikey is your only legendary champion with a soul.
4. Lightning Cage (Legendary): This is the best arena option, combining well with Mikey’s Taunt, Shields, and Stoneskin sets.

Best Relics

Check out our Relics Tier List for full details on all Relics!

There are several great options for Relics:

1. Stormcaller (Mythical Chimera Relic): This won’t give quite as much damage in PvE as the other options but it is disgustingly powerful in any content where you can land Stuns due to the amount of A1 attacks he will do when combined with other Turtles. Note that you need ACC to land these Stuns.
2. The Cat’s Gaze (Legendary Event Relic): the best legendary damage relic in the game is (unsurprisingly) amazing for Michelangelo, stacking with the Ignore Defence you’ll get through gear, masteries, and area bonuses. It was a time-limited Relic though, and you might prefer to save it for Leonardo…
3. Irethi Coronet (Epic Chimera Relic): this essentially works just like the Nature’s Wrath blessing but it stacks even higher.
4. Malefic Talon (Rare Chimera Relic): the best budget relic; essentially a C.DMG% stat-stick.