Understanding the Force Keep’s Mechanics in Raid: Shadow Legends
In this guide, we explore how the Force Keep works in Raid: Shadow Legends. Learn the key mechanics behind the encounter, the best Champion types and strategies for overcoming the boss, and how to consistently farm Lesser, Greater, and Superior Force Potions to Ascend your Force Champions.
What is the Force Keep?
The Force Keep is where you’ll farm the Potions required to Ascend Force Affinity Champions. Ascending provides additional base stats, unlocks the ability to equip Amulets and Banners at the required Ascension Levels, and can improve certain Champion skills, such as unlocking passives. By progressing through the Keep, you’ll earn Lesser, Greater, and Superior Force Potions to support these upgrades.
You’ll naturally be introduced to the Force Keep through Progress Missions on your journey towards Arbiter, helping establish the importance of Ascension and farming the different Affinity Keeps. Unlike permanent Dungeons, the Force Keep is normally available twice per week on Tuesdays and Fridays. It can be opened outside these days for 200 Gems, though we’d generally avoid spending Gems to open the Keep outside its scheduled days.
It should only be considered as a last resort if missing Potions would otherwise prevent you from completing something important, such as Ascending the required Epics before a Fusion deadline.
Progressing Through the Force Keep
Your goal should generally be to farm the highest stage you can clear consistently, eventually reaching Stage 20. At this stage, Lesser Potions are removed from the reward pool, allowing you to focus on Greater and Superior Potions. If you specifically need Lesser Potions for lower rarity Champions, you can simply drop back to an earlier stage.
Understanding The Force Keep’s Skills
Cripping Swipe
Cripping Swipe attacks all enemies and has a 60% chance of placing a 50% Decrease ATK debuff for 2 turns. This debuff cannot be resisted, making it particularly disruptive for damage dealers who rely on ATK to deal damage. Block Debuffs can prevent the effect from landing, while Remove Debuffs can cleanse it afterwards.
Quake
Quake attacks all enemies and has a 50% chance of placing Stun for 1 turn. This effect cannot be resisted, potentially disrupting your team’s skill rotations and preventing Champions from taking their turns.
Block Debuffs is one of the strongest counters, preventing Stun from being applied. Alternatively, Champions such as Doompriest can cleanse the effect, while Hoskarul is immune to Stun and can remove Stun debuffs from allies, making him a useful option for this encounter.
Force Armor (P)
Force Armor increases the Force Guardian’s DEF to 4,000. Decrease DEF and Ignore DEF effects can help overcome his high defensive stats, while Weaken provides another way to increase your damage. Champions capable of dealing Enemy MAX HP damage, or activating Poison and HP Burn, can also help wear him down.
Almighty Immunity (P)
The Force Guardian is immune to most forms of crowd control, including Stun, Freeze, Sleep, Provoke, Fear, and Block Active Skills. He’s also immune to HP exchange, HP balancing, and cooldown increasing effects.
However, he can still be affected by Decrease SPD and Turn Meter reduction, making Speed manipulation particularly effective. Combining these effects with Increase SPD and Turn Meter fills for your own team can help you outpace the boss, limiting how often he attacks and attempts to place his debuffs.
The Waves & Boss Minions
Managing the Minions
The Force Guardian fights alongside two minions that provide additional support to try make the encounter more difficult. The left minion can place Heal Reduction on your Champions, limiting their ability to recover HP, while the right minion can place Increase DEF on the boss, making his already high defensive stats even harder to overcome.
Defeating or crowd controlling the minions can prevent them from using these skills, allowing your team to focus entirely on the boss. Block Debuffs or Remove Debuffs can help manage Heal Reduction, while Block Buffs, Remove Buffs or Steal Buffs can help counter Increase DEF. Combining this with Decrease DEF, Weaken, and enough damage to overcome the boss’s defences will make the encounter much easier to manage.
Clearing the Waves
Before reaching the Force Guardian, you’ll need to clear two waves of enemies. Bringing enough damage to move through these efficiently can significantly reduce your overall farming time, with effects such as Decrease DEF and Weaken helping your damage dealers eliminate enemies faster.
For faster clears, Seer or Poison Explosion style teams can quickly tear through both waves before transitioning into the boss encounter. If you’re struggling to survive the waves instead, crowd control effects such as Stun, Freeze, and Provoke can help limit incoming attacks while your team works through them.
Use the Raid Stages Tool to identify which enemies you’ll face on each stage and plan your damage, debuffs, and crowd control accordingly.
Building A Force Keep Team – Key Roles
Debuffers
Decrease DEF and Weaken are particularly valuable against the Force Guardian, helping your damage dealers overcome his high defensive stats. Decrease ATK can reduce the damage your team receives, while Decrease SPD helps limit how often the boss takes turns.
Poison and HP Burn provide additional damage that doesn’t rely on traditional attacks, but instead turns the enemies take. Champions capable of activating these effects can also trigger immediate damage, helping wear down the boss faster.
Block Debuffs & Remove Debuffs
The Force Guardian can place Decrease ATK and Stun, while his minions can apply Heal Reduction to limit your team’s recovery. Block Debuffs can prevent these effects from landing, while Remove Debuffs allows you to cleanse them after they’re applied.
Champions such as Doompriest can provide consistent cleansing, while Hoskarul offers a useful counter to Stun. These options are particularly valuable if your team struggles to maintain its damage and skill rotations.
Team Protection & Buffs
Increase DEF, Shields, Strengthen, healing, and Revive can help your team survive the boss’s attacks, particularly during earlier progression. Counterattack can also provide additional opportunities to retaliate and deal damage whenever your Champions are attacked.
Offensive buffs such as Increase ATK can enhance the damage of ATK based Champions, helping them overcome the boss’s high DEF and finish the encounter faster. Bringing a balance of offensive and defensive support can improve consistency while your account develops.
Speed & Turn Meter Manipulation
Unlike many other bosses, the Force Guardian can be affected by Decrease SPD and Turn Meter reduction. Repeatedly pushing back his Turn Meter can limit how often he attacks and attempts to place his debuffs.
Increase SPD and Turn Meter fills are equally useful for helping your Champions cycle through their skills faster. With enough Speed manipulation and damage, some teams can prevent the boss from taking a turn entirely.
Damage
Strong damage dealers are important for quickly clearing the waves, eliminating the minions, and defeating the Force Guardian. His naturally high DEF makes Decrease DEF, Weaken, and Ignore DEF effects particularly valuable for maximising your damage.
Powerful raw damage dealers and Enemy MAX HP Champions can help speed up the boss phase, while Poison and HP Burn activations provide alternative ways to wear him down. The faster you defeat the boss & waves, the fewer opportunities he has to Stun your team or reduce its damage through Decrease ATK.
Crowd Control
Crowd control effects such as Stun, Freeze, and Provoke can help manage the waves and minions if they’re causing problems. Preventing the minions from taking turns also reduces the risk of Heal Reduction being applied or Increase DEF being placed on the boss.
While the Force Guardian himself is immune to most crowd control effects, controlling the enemies around him can make the encounter much easier to manage.
Force Keep Team Example
Here are five Champions that form the foundation of a reliable Stage 20 Force Keep farming team, designed to overcome the boss’s DEF while managing his disruptive debuffs through cleansing, protection, and Turn Meter control. The team also brings the damage needed to clear the waves and defeat the boss efficiently. Use these roles as a framework when adapting the team around the Champions available on your account.
Deacon
Deacon provides the team with a Speed Aura, alongside Turn Meter fills for allies and Turn Meter reduction against enemies. His ability to grant himself an Extra Turn allows him to follow up with AoE Decrease DEF, setting up your damage dealers for stronger attacks. This makes him a great Epic for outpacing both the waves and boss while providing valuable offensive support.
Hoskarul
Hoskarul brings a unique combination of crowd control and team protection. He’s immune to Stun, can remove Stun debuffs from allies, and provides Increase RES and Increase DEF to improve their survivability. He also increases the damage allies deal against enemies under Stun, while bringing his own chances to place Stun and reduce enemy Turn Meters, making him a useful option for controlling the waves and countering the Force Guardian’s mechanics.
Whisper
Whisper is one of the strongest Epic damage dealers in the game, particularly against bosses when paired with Decrease DEF and Weaken. Her A3 grants an Extra Turn when attacking enemies under both debuffs, while her A2 can ignore DEF against targets under Weaken. She also passively deals 20% more damage to bosses, with additional chances to gain Extra Turns through critical hits, making her a powerful option for quickly wearing down the Force Guardian & key targets.
Doompriest
Doompriest provides valuable team support through her Bolster passive, removing a random debuff from allies and healing them at the start of each of her turns. This makes her particularly useful for cleansing effects such as Stun without relying on an active skill, while also bringing Increase ATK to enhance your team’s damage. She’s a great candidate for Relentless builds, allowing her to cycle through turns faster for more frequent healing and cleansing.
Stag Knight
Stag Knight brings AOE Decrease ATK and Decrease DEF in a single skill, helping reduce incoming damage while setting up stronger attacks against enemies. His A1 also places Decrease SPD to slow the boss, while his passive grants Increase ACC to allies when their debuffs are resisted. This provides another opportunity to land important effects on subsequent turns, particularly for Champions struggling to meet the ACC requirements.
Building for Debuffs & Damage
Accuracy & Stat Requirements
Accuracy is important for Champions placing key debuffs such as Decrease DEF, Weaken, Decrease ATK, and Decrease SPD, alongside those responsible for reducing the Force Guardian’s Turn Meter. As a general guideline, aim for around 25 more ACC than the boss’s RES, using the Raid Stages Tool to check the requirements for your chosen stage.
Also pay attention to Affinity when selecting your debuffers, as Magic Champions are at an Affinity disadvantage against this boss and can land Weak Hits, preventing debuffs attached to attacks from being applied. This isn’t a concern for placement skills that don’t require an attack to land.
For damage dealers, prioritise 100% C.RATE, strong C.DMG, and the relevant damage scaling stat. Hybrid Champions such as Michelangelo require a balance of ACC, SPD, and offensive stats to consistently land their debuffs while contributing meaningful damage.
Recommended Artifact Sets
Perception, Pinpoint, Feral, and Accuracy focused sets are strong options for reaching the ACC needed to consistently land important debuffs. Speed focused sets can also help Champions cycle through their skills faster and maintain control of the encounter.
Damage dealers can prioritise Ignore DEF sets such as Savage, Merciless, or Lethal, which are particularly valuable against the Force Guardian’s high DEF. Hybrid Champions can combine offensive and Accuracy focused sets to balance damage with debuff consistency, while defensive or support focused sets can improve survivability if your team struggles to withstand the boss’s attacks.
Tips for building Force Keep teams
Managing the Force Guardian
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Overcome His High DEF – Decrease DEF, Weaken, and Ignore DEF effects are particularly valuable against the Force Guardian, helping your damage dealers take him down faster.
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Control His Turns – Decrease SPD and Turn Meter reduction can limit how often the boss attacks and attempts to place debuffs. Combine these with Increase SPD and Turn Meter fills to outpace him, potentially preventing him from taking a turn entirely.
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Use Alternative Damage Sources – Poison and HP Burn can help wear down the boss without relying entirely on direct attacks. Activating these effects can also provide immediate ticks of damage to speed up the encounter.
Dealing with Debuffs & Minions
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Prevent Stun & Decrease ATK – Block Debuffs can prevent the boss’s disruptive effects from landing, while Remove Debuffs can cleanse them afterwards. Champions such as Doompriest and Hoskarul are useful options for keeping your team active.
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Control the Minions – The left minion can place Heal Reduction, while the right minion provides Increase DEF to the boss. Defeating or crowd controlling them prevents these effects from disrupting your strategy.
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Remove Increase DEF – If the boss receives Increase DEF from his minion, Remove Buffs or Steal Buffs can strip it away, making his already high defensive stats easier to overcome.
Building for Faster & Consistent Clears
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Bring Enough Damage – Strong AoE damage helps clear the waves and minions quickly, while Enemy MAX HP attacks and Ignore DEF effects can significantly speed up the boss phase.
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Balance Damage & Survivability – Increase ATK can enhance your ATK based damage dealers, while Increase DEF, Shields, healing, and Revive provide additional protection if you’re struggling to survive.
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Check Your Requirements – Use the Raid Stages Tool to identify the enemies and stat requirements for your chosen stage. Remember that Magic Champions can land Weak Hits against the Force Guardian, preventing debuffs attached to attacks from being applied.