AFK Arena Mid Game Tier List

SS Tier Heroes 

Brutus

daddy

General Strategy

---

► Part of any top tier team composition.
► Place in front of a Sweeper for best effects. Brutus's 4th skill (Last Gasp) guarantees that he survives longer than most other frontliners, buying more time for your Sweeper to build energy. Due to surviving longer, Brutus is more likely to be able to cast his ultimate, meaning that on average, Brutus outdamages most other frontliners as well. His high damage can enable a Sweeper to secure a quick kill and gain an energy advantage.
► Put strength-based and agility-based heroes behind Brutus rather than intelligence-based to take full advantage of his 2nd skill (Roar), which increases physical damage taken by 3-4 enemies. Strength and agility heroes deal physical damage while intelligence heroes deal magic damage.
► Brutus's 2nd skill (Roar) makes enemies affected unable to dodged (after Lv.101), making him good against agility-based heroes, especially Kaz.

Counter Strategy

---

► Brutus' greatest weakness are heroes who uses stuns on their 2nd attack. This is because Brutus uses his Roar after his 2nd attack. His roar makes up for more than 50% of his damage output, therefore denying it is a huge win against Brutus. Being able to deny the roar turns Brutus into an extremely deadly Physical burst support hero into just a harder to kill Golus that deals above average damage.

► Knowing that Brutus' Roar is a 25/30/40/50% physical damage amplifier with 8 second duration & 12 second cooldown, it is clear how interrupting it can easily negate most of Brutus' Utility.

► Heroes who use interrupt Brutus Roar(from best to weakest): Ogi > Hogan > Thoran > Athalia > Skreg > Grovo (unreliable)

► Ogi is the best counter to Brutus due to him having long duration stuns to complement his interrupt Brutus Roar. Not only does Ogi prevent Brutus from using his roar, he also keeps Brutus stunned for a long duration(slam+toss) after AND slows his attack speed after the toss. Additionally, since Brutus is pushed away from Ogi's backline through his toss, Brutus' ultimate ability also have alot less threat and damage as it will no longer hit Ogi's backline heroes. This makes Ogi counter Brutus' Roar, High Attack Damage and Ultimate Ability, turning Brutus into a mere damage sponge with immunity. However this only lasts until the early half of Late game as Ogi maxes out at lvl 160.

► Fawkes: is also a great counter to Brutus due to his Ultimate Ability which clears all Buffs from enemies. This includes Brutus' Invincible state from his 4th skill. However, he is not as reliable in PvP as he can end up using his Ultimate Ability way before Brutus' 4th skill is activated. However, in modes where manual play is available, he is a powerful and reliable counter as long as he survives.
In some PvE stages, Fawkes also catches Brutus inside his coffin, preventing Brutus from attacking and gaining energy for the early part of battle. An effective way of denying Brutus from using his ultimate ability. (However, Coffin does not interrupt Roar)

► Nara: is another strong counter to Brutus as her Ultimate ability goes through shields and invincibility. Which CAN BE reliable in PvP as Nara will not activate the ability agains't enemies that are not below 40% HP. However, this can also be a gamble for if Nara activates her ultimate ability before Brutus activates his passive ability, Brutus will become invincible upon taking lethal damage from Nara's Ultimate Ability, negating its damage completely. For Nara's ultimate ability to counter Brutus, she must first have Brutus activate his passive before Nara activates her Ultimate Ability as her Ultimate pierces invincibility but does not prevent it.

► Labyrinth Relics:
- Deathly Embrace: Enemies with less than 15% of their max HP are sent to an early grave by a deathly apparition. (Pierces Immunity)
- Dispelling Arrow: The relic that causes allies attacks to have a chance to remove buffs can also remove Brutus' Skill 4 Immunity.

---

Saveas

Saveas deals extremely high damage at the cost of his own health. Despite this, he is also surprisingly durable and can decimate enemy teams if left unattended.

General Strategy

---

► Hide Saveas behind Brutus for maximum effectiveness. Saveas takes full advantage of Brutus's 2nd skill (Roar), while Brutus's guaranteed survivability buys time for Saveas to build energy. Brutus's ultimate can also set up future kills for Saveas to keep resetting his ultimate duration.
► Khasos's 4th skill (Rabid Thirst) grants Saveas lifesteal to offset the health cost in empowering Saveas's autoattacks.
► Due to Saveas's high autoattack damage, buffing his attack speed is especially potent, making allies such as Numisu great, and also the Dura's Eye Artifact.

► +15 Crit Rate: This buff granted from the Union Buffs(Located in Library) is Saveas' strongest early game advantage over all early game damage dealers in the game. Try to aquire the buff as soon as possible as it provides Saveas a powerful stat that no other early game hero can have until mid to the end of mid game, granting you a strong advantage in PvP modes.

 Guild Hunt Strategy

---

► DPS Survivalist: Saveas has very high DPS and Surivability, makihg him a strong yet also very cheap hero to play in Guild Hunts. With his high healing and damage output, Saveas needs very little team support and can provide high damage output by outlasting other more team dependent damage dealers with his lack of reliance on healing from teammates. This combination of high DPS and Survivability makes him a great Guild Hunt hero from Early-Mid game as he needs very little investment to play Guild Hunt effectively, thus gaining a strong advantage against most Damage Dealers by being effective at Guild Hunt much earlier and at a lower investment requirement.

►Wasted Utility: Just as with all DPS based damage dealers, Saveas fails to take advantage of the fact that Wrizz' Ultimate ability restores your heroes' Energy to full on hit. This is because Saveas deals damage overtime, not in one burst. This makes him unable to take advantage of Double Ult Strategies thus his damage output can fall off once burst heroes gains access to Double Ult strategies with dedicated team support & healing.

---

Tasi

Tasi is an elusive control based support hero who possesses 2 control skills and teleports around the battlefield to heal allies and damage enemies.

General Strategy

---

► Tasi's 4th ability (Teleportation) actually completely mitigates any damage she would have received from the attack which triggers her teleport. This makes her deceptively tanky.
► Tasi is a good option against Silvina if she can survive the initial damage of Silvina's 3rd skill (First Blood), as she will quickly teleport away once the stun wears off.
► Tasi is especially good when paired with Shemira as their ultimate abilities will often activate at roughly the same time. Shemira's ultimate (Tortured Souls) deals damage to all enemies over 12 seconds, which provides a fairly long window for it to line up with Tasi's ultimate (Slumber) and take advantage of the 25-30% damage boost from Slumber.

---

S Tier Heroes

Nemora

Nemora is a purely defensive healer who makes up for her low damage output by causing enemies to turn on each other.

General Strategy

---

► If you find Nemora sitting at full health while her allies die, without enough energy to cast her ultimate, you can try putting Nemora as a frontliner to increase her energy gain through taking damage. Ideally, put a melee Tank/Bruiser behind her who will take some of the enemy attention away from her as Nemora may not survive a full-fledged assault.
► Nemora generally charms the closest enemy, so position her accordingly to hit priority targets.

---

Lucius

Lucius is a defensive frontliner who possesses high durability and supports his team by providing healing and powerful shields. However, he sacrifices nearly all offensive capabilities for his powerful defensive kit.

Guild Hunt Strategy

---

► Lucius's shielding and healing grant Survivalist status to his entire team, making him amazing in Guild Hunts even though his personal damage is very low. Against Soren, the shields from his ultimate can be used block Soren's Charm or ultimate damage.

► When utilized with Nemora, all dps are immortal against Wrizz at all points of the game and only gets more effective when Nemora starts providing shields herself, making the duo effective against Soren's Charms and High AoE Damage.

---

Lyca

Lyca gives her allies the upper hand at the beginning of battle, but in exchange her performance suffers in longer battles.

General Strategy

---

► Lyca is best used with heroes who have strong control abilities, as her attack speed buff ensures that her allies perform their first rotation faster than the enemy. This means that allies' control abilities will usually interrupt the enemies' first ability cast, granting her team a huge advantage that can be snowballed to victory. Arden shines especially because of his ability to disable 3 targets at once, and therefore interrupt the first ability of those 3 targets at the same time.
► If placed in position 4, Lyca's ultimate will hit every enemy
► Lyca's 3rd skill (Awe) causes her to leap almost into melee range at the beginning of battle (even if positioned in the backline), meaning that she will be hit by any AoE abilities targeted at her closest frontliner. Due to her fragility, it is usually better to move her to either position 3 or 5 to avoid AoE damage, as leaving her in 4 would mean that she usually dies before being able to cast her ultimate (putting her in position 4 only matters if she can cast her ultimate).

---

A Tier Heroes

Ira

Ira is a highly lethal burst damage dealer who's lethality increases as the enemies' numbers dwindle.

She is additionally the best mid game Guild Hunt damage dealer in the game.

General Strategy

---

► Positioning: Ira must be placed at 3 or 5 to limit the spread of her ult. While her ultimate has global range, it highly prioritizes nearby enemies so positioning her at the corner will limit her Ult spread even more, allowing her to focus its dmg on nearby enemies.
► Frontline Dependent: All ultimate dependent heroes needs a good frontline but Ira needs it more for the same reason she needs good positioning. This is to limit the spread of her ult. If her enemies close in on her, her ult will spread more, making its lethality less reliable. Additionally, it can miss moving enemies so try to make sure your tanks dont die during Ira's ultimate.

► Union Buff Dependent: Ira greatly needs full Union Buff to be considered an A Tier hero as before then, she is team dependent due to her low pre-ult dmg, wavering around D or B tier depending on the situation and her team composition. But the Union Buff Solves her low pre-ult dmg as she gains access to an RNG based burst, greatly leveraging her team dependence. Before The Union Buff, Brutus is almost necessary to make Ira work as a solo carry as she will have a hard time shredding the enemy frontline without Brutus providing damage at the same time. Another option is to play Belinda to grant Ira Crit Rate for a duration. Otherwise, if neither is available, it is better to play a Defensive Team and wait for Ira's ultimate damage.

After the Union Buff, Ira is almost nearly support independent. Recmmended supports however are: Lyca and Estrilda for their Attack Speed and Energy Regen Buffs.

---

Mirael

Mirael is a damage dealer who specialize in high AoE burst damage and protecting her allies from magic damage.
Mirael is additionally good at closing out the game as her skills become stronger as the enemies' numbers dwindle.

Mirael's skills additionally possess naturally high %, making her very efficient at taking advantage of the Attack Stat.

---

Khasos

Khasos is a versatile hero chosen primarily for his ability to support his allies by granting them all lifesteal, but he also does respectable AoE damage and can tank in a pinch.

General Strategy

---

► Due to granting Maulers more lifesteal than other factions (after Lv.141), Khasos works best with other Maulers, especially those with strong and fast autoattacks.
► Khasos's 3rd skill (Throwing Axe) damages heroes in the backline and can help Assassins set up quick kills.

---

Hogan

Hogan is a well-rounded tank possessing high innate survivability and control abilities.

General Strategy

---

► Not much to say really. With High Durability and Stun frequency. Put him in front of your strongest heroes and he'll protect them pretty well.

► He's Tanky if you need one.

---

Golus

Golus is a highly resilient damage sponge who possesses some control ability.

Guild Hunt Strategy

---

► Back Turn with ultimate. Play on manual and don't activate his ult again after the first time so he can keep Soren turned around. With some healing, Golus can easily survive until time runs out.

---

Grezhul

Grezhul is a tank who relies on his abilities to mitigate damage. He is strongest against intelligence-based heroes due to his ability to reduce magic damage taken for him and his allies.

General Strategy

---

► Grezhul's ultimate ability (Reanimate) briefly stuns enemies in a fairly large radius. He can typically stun three enemies reliably as the gravestone spawns in between the frontline and backline, hitting not only the frontliner but the two backliners behind as well.
► The Skeletal warrior(s) spawned by Reanimate have a slightly shorter attack range than Grezhul. This means that they will divert attention away from Grezhul; a frontliner such as Brutus for example will turn around and hit the skeletons instead. This means that the skeletons can absorb ultimate abilities such as Brutus's Whirlwind.

Guild Hunt Strategy

---

► Best Back Turn Summoner

► Back Turn Strategy with Ultimate. Summons 1-2 skeletons behind boss.

► Synergy with Lucius to increase skeleton survivability.

---

Arden

Arden possesses unparalleled control abilities at the cost of having low damage output.

General Strategy

---

► Arden's 2nd skill (Entangling Roots) has a limited range; it cannot hit enemies in the opposite corner from Arden. This means that an Arden in position 3 cannot root an enemy in position 5, and an Arden in position 5 cannot root an enemy in position 3. This can be advantageous as positioning Arden in either position 3 or 5 increases the odds that he roots the target you most want to disable. All else being equal, the only case where Arden should be placed in position 4 is if you want to root both enemies at position 3 and 5.

Counter Strategy

---

► 99.9% of Arden's utility comes from his roots. Being able to interrupt Arden's roots is how one hard counters Arden. Though this is easier said than done for Arden is a backline hero, greatly limiting the number of heroes who can execute this straightforward counter strategy.

► Right now, there is only a few heroes that can reliably counter Arden's roots which are: Arden, Ogi, Nara, Athalia & Grovo(Unreliable). Starting from the easily accessible, these heroes will be discussed below.

► Arden Mirror:
- A common strategy against Control heroes is to mirror their hero choice and out pace them with higher movement speed. This is because movement speed allows your hero to reach its target starting position faster, allowing it to start its first attack sooner. With a movement speed advantage, you will be able to cast Arden's root sooner than the enemy. If you ever find yourself having equal movement speed as the enemy Arden, consider equipping the Artifact, Dura's call which adds +10 movement speed. Although Arden does not benefit very much from the Energy Regeneration aspect of this Artifact, being able to deny the enemy Arden's root may just be the key to victory. This is an especially sneaky strategy as Mythic+ Boots grant 10 movement speed baseline and upgrading it to [5 Stars] with faction advantage does not add enough movement speed to out pace an enemy with a Dura's Call + [No Star] Boots, which grants 20 total movement speed. (5 Star Mythic+ Faction Boots gives only 19.8 total movement speed.)
This means that you will ALWAYS beat the enemy Arden so long as they do not have the same relic equipped, which is a very uncommon strategy. Addiionally, at 4 stars, Dura's Call grants 15 movement speed, significantly widening your speed advantage.
- However, Arden + Lyca is a common duo as Lyca significantly amplifies the rate by which Arden can cast his Roots. Lyca's Haste Buff will always outpace any hero no matter how significant their movement speed advantage is. In this case, An Arden Mirror's only option is to play a Lyca yourself, while simultaneously implementing the strategy mentioned above.

► Ogi:
- Ogi is an extremely powerful and a low investment hero to play when it comes to interrupting Arden's roots as Ogi have little to no equipment requirements when it comes to interrupting Arden's Roots. This is because Arden and Ogi both cast their skill 2 at the same time but Arden's Root has a much slower cast time than Ogi's Slam that Arden has no chance of avoiding Ogi's stun, even with extreme movement speed advantage. This makes Ogi the cheapest counter to Arden in PvE and situationally, also in PvP. No matter what happens, Ogi will always stun Arden every time he will attempt to cast his Root as their skills also share the same cooldown.
- Additionally, Ogi's stun is fast enough that he even has a 100% success rate at interrupting the root of an Arden that is supported by a Lyca. A downside however is that this only works for Arden's first stun. So when against an Arden + Lyca, it is recommended to play Ogi + Lyca to continue having a 100% stun rate on all roots with Ogi again.
- An advantage Ogi has over an Arden mirror is that Ogi does not take away a backline slot from your team, allowing you to play a different backline hero that is better optimized for your/enemy's team.

► Nara & Athalia:
- These 2 heroes counter Arden in a similar way. Place them at the position directily infront of Arden for them to initiate their stun lock entrance against him. Arden's strength comes from his 3-man root. Being able to deny it pretty much makes Arden useless as his other abilities are weak to compensate for the sheer power of his roots. At the start of the battle, Athalia will dive Arden and stun him multiple times. In the same fashion, Nara will pull Arden to her and stun him multiple times. Even if this doesn't kill Arden, being able to significantly delay his first root is already a huge win. One problem however is that these heroes are not the easiest to acquire.

► Grovo: his RNG shell slam can hit Arden during his root cast, interrupting him in between the slow casting animation of his root. However, if he so misses to interrupt Arden's Root, he still has the chance of Blocking at least Arden's 1st Root as he starts the battle with a Shield equal to 50% of his health. Assuming that his shield is not broken by then, and he does not dive too far from Arden, he can reliably Block at least 1 root.

► Luscius: can also be viable as he occasionally casts down his shield at the same time as or earlier than Arden's root, allowing him to take Arden's root as it does not break Luscius' shield stance (Luscius stance is uninterruptible).

► Shields: Arden's roots does not go through shields. So long as you prevent Arden't insignificant initial skill damage which is 70% from breaking your shield, you will block his Root. This makes Thane a viable option against Arden as he can tank 1 of Arden's roots. Silvina being an even bigger threat as her Shield is at least 40% stronger than Thane's shield, granting her an even higher capability of Blocking Arden's Root. However, there are currently not too many heroes that gain Shields early in the battle. The only ones that remain are Grovo, which was previously mentioned, and Warek, who has built in Control Immunity so his shield aspect doesnt matter as much.

---

Numisu

Numisu is a unique healer who buffs his strongest ally and distracts enemies with his totems.

General Strategy

---

► Numisu's 4th skill (Fanaticism) provides a large attack speed bonus, which increases in effectiveness the stronger the ally's autoattacks are. Best targets include Saveas and Brutus, due to their passives that increase their autoattack damage: Saveas's 2nd skill (Bloodied Spear) and Brutus's 3rd skill (Brutal Defiance) respectively.
► Numisu's ultimate can be used as a quick burst heal if activated right after he uses his 2nd skill (Rejuvenating Totem) on an ally, as his ultimate causes the totem to activate again. The same logic applies to his 3rd skill (Offensive Totem) as well.

Guild Hunt Strategy

---

► Totems can Back Turn. However, Totems are fragile and are the least reliable out of all Back Turn heroes. (Can be solved if one utilizes Lucius with him but it can require careful manual play)

► But even with the inconsistency, with Numisu's attack speed buff and healing, Numisu remains a strong contender for a Guild Hunt as a Back Turn hero with offensive and defensive supporting capabilities.

---

Ferael

Ferael is a middling damage dealer with outstanding control abilities. He stuns enemies and drains their energy, delaying their ultimates.

General Strategy

---

► Ferael can deal a surprising amount of damage over long, drawn-out battles, but due to his lack of innate survivability, he depends on his teammates to keep him alive. This means he works well in tankier, more sustain-focused teams with control abilities to stack on top of his to slow games down.

---

Credits

The rankings and writeups for each Hero are all done by the members of the guild GloriouS! 

GloriouS is a guild with players from all over the globe, we are a community that is constantly growing in player base and strength! The guild was first created in mid January 2019. This spreadsheet is the result of our members' desire to help the community learn more about the game and to help players reach their goals. 

Guild ID: 3021. Second guild: InfamouS.

You can join their Discord server here, and their AFK Arena guide spreadsheet can be found here.

Notes

This Tier List is for gameplay at levels 61-160. Many Heroes gain access to new Skills, and improve accordingly-- see the notes for each on Tier Changes at specific leveling thresholds.

Hero Strategy is included for Heroes ranked SS through A.