Predator Champion Spotlight

Predator landed in Raid as part of the Alien vs Predator crossover, initially only available through the paid Champion Pass for $40 (region-dependent). Is he worth it? After our testing, we've discovered the following (and we'll break down how he works, how to build him, and tips for using him in the sections that follow!):
Predator is a strong arena nuker with a very powerful bouncing AoE attack, an underwhelming Block Revive attack, and one of the most interesting passives we've seen on an HP champion.

He's not breaking the game like Gizmak, Embrys, Taras or Nais, but he will be a great addition to any early-mid game account–and is even viable for late-game too. In our opinion, it's a good place for a "paid exclusive" champion to be: good enough to be worth it for many players, but not a must-buy in order to stay competitive.

Predator is an HP-based nuker who combines good damage with strong survivability mechanics–and he's the first champion in the game to have the Hunter's Gaze debuff. This debuff allows him to bypass basically all defensive buffs and effects in the game (apart from champions' base built DEF), though the relatively low damage of this attack means you might still struggle to kill tanky enemies. Watch out for high-RES enemies as well; he only ignores RES if he is under Perfect Veil.

His kit leans heavily into Arena play, where his passive gives him a 50% chance to Evade (fully prevent) any attack during the first turn of the fight, and then gives him a permanent 20% Evade chance per kill (stacking to 60%) for some crazy survivability in longer duels.

What makes him stand out is the way his passive Evade and Perfect Veil allow him to run builds most nukers can't — including full Merciless or high-damage non-Stoneskin setups — without instantly dying before taking his first turn.

The defining part of Predator's kit is his passive. At the start of every fight, he gains Perfect Veil and has a 50% chance to Evade any incoming skill before he takes his turn. Evade is not damage reduction — it's full negation. The skill simply doesn't happen to him: no debuffs, no damage, no turn meter loss, nothing.

This alone makes him surprisingly durable even without Stoneskin. Once he starts getting kills, the Evade chance increases by 20% per kill up to 60%, meaning that in longer matches, Predator becomes extremely slippery. Every Evade also triggers an A1 counterattack, adding chip damage and a steady stream of self-healing.

This passive is what lets him run more aggressive offensive sets and high-risk, high-reward builds that many HP nukers simply can't utilize.

A2 – Smart Disc (AoE Attack)

This is Predator's real damage dealer. The AoE is a double hit that bounces between enemies, with a somewhat random damage pattern (on average, he will do 52.5% bonus damage to any given target, but this could vary wildly depending on the bounces–you can reliably select the initial target to receive solid damage at least). If Predator is under any Veil, it gains 15% Ignore DEF, and this becomes one of the strongest AoE attacks for a HP-based damage dealer in the game!

A3 – Combistick Throw (Single-Target Attack)

This move sounds amazing on paper, but is a little disappointing in practice. Before attacking, it places Hunter's Gaze, a debuff that prevents all forms of damage reduction, redirection, and protective buffs. It also ignores Unkillable, Block Damage, Strengthen, Increase DEF, Veil, Perfect Veil, Shield and Ally Protection.

If the attack kills an enemy, it applies Block Revive and spreads Hunter's Gaze to one additional enemy. If it doesn't kill the target, Predator gets Perfect Veil for two turns and 50% Turn Meter, which keeps him safe and lets him cycle back to his powerful AoE sooner–it's also the only way for him to regain Perfect Veil by himself after his passive expires.

The actual damage on this skill is noticeably weaker than expected, so it's best used to secure Block Revive on squishier enemy targets such as damage dealers. Watch out for the Ignore RES portion as well: he only Ignores RES if he is under Veil, so avoid targeting potentially high-RES enemies if he has no Veil buffs (damage dealers almost never build RES, so they're always a safe target!).

A1 – Basic Attack & Counterattacks

The A1 heals Predator based on the damage dealt. Since he counterattacks every time he Evades something, these A1s add up. They don't hit hard individually, but they help him stay healthy and make him resist being slowly chipped down. Expect this to become pretty scary for enemies once he's stacked up his 60% Evade chance passive.

The core build philosophy is simple: always start with 100% Crit Rate and build out from there. Predator wants HP, Crit Damage and enough speed to function in your arena bracket.

He scales directly with HP, so HP% chest and HP-heavy accessories are ideal. Crit Damage (or C.RATE%) gloves and amulet boots round out the core. There's a big choice between HP% boots or SPD boots; SPD is more flexible, but HP% can help him hit harder with his weaker single-target attacks.

The interesting part is his set flexibility. Predator can effectively run standard nuker setups like Stoneskin + Lethal, but he also opens the door to more aggressive or unconventional builds:

• Lethal + Feral helps him avoid early crowd control while buffing his damage.
• Full Merciless becomes surprisingly viable because Evade and Perfect Veil protect him long enough to survive the opening rotation.
• Earlier-game players can use HP, Cruel, Perception or Crit Rate sets without issue.

As for blessings, Predator gains the most from Life Harvest, which helps him secure kills and cycle turns when revivers try to bring their team back, or Lightning Cage, which will protect important buffs such as Perfect Veil or Stoneskin. We also expect Ward of the Fallen to be very strong if you have a 6-star Blessing (don't use it if you're below 6-star).

Predator is generally viable in Arena, in both speed teams and go-second teams. He can ignore most defensive buffs through Hunter's Gaze, but has no way to deal with Stoneskin, so make sure to bring champions who can deal with Stoneskin, such as Fabian, Embrys, or Sulfuryion, to set Predator up to start securing kills.
He's strong into squishy champions who rely on defensive buffs to survive, such as Siegfrund the Nephilim or Odin Faefather.

He pairs incredibly well with Perfect Veil providers — Rector Drath, Duchess, or Theodosia, who can cover the entire team with Perfect Veil on a low cooldown. Anything that boosts his HP, speeds him up, or strips protective buffs from enemies improves his performance.

He can work well with a secondary damage dealer too: remember that every champion on your team will benefit from his Hunter's Gaze debuff, so he can enable your other damage dealers to kill tanky enemies too.

Predator's kit leans toward PvP, but his AoE is strong enough to clear dungeon waves convincingly, and the TM gain + Perfect Veil make him durable in boss fights. He won't replace specialists in hard PvE content, but he's more than serviceable in campaign, Dungeon 20–25, and mid-game progression (Doom Tower, Faction Wars, Cursed City, etc.).

He's one of the tankiest champions in the game for PvE since he can stack up his Evade chance on waves, then constantly Evade and spam self-healing counterattacks. He won't have crazy boss killing damage, but he is strong in AoE and will help wear down bosses over time–potentially even solo tough bosses that you can't otherwise beat.

For newer players picking up the Champion Pass, Predator doubles nicely as your main HP nuker across all content.

Predator comes out as a solid 3.5-Star HP nuker overall, though he might potentially jump to 4-star if we see him performing well for more players. His best arena is PvP, where he falls somewhere in the 4-4.5 range. His AoE is far stronger than early impressions suggested, his passive opens up build options most HP nukers can't risk, and Hunter's Gaze gives him a niche as a counter to high-protection arena teams. His single-target nuke remains disappointing, but the rest of his kit mostly balances that out.

In short, Predator is (luckily) not a must-buy champion, but for players who enjoy go-second arena teams, lack a Force Affinity or HP nuker, or want a cool collab champion, Predator is a decent choice.