AFK Arena’s Esperia has always been a place of magic. It is a wonderful land where sorcery and elemental magic thrives among its denizens. Esperia is a land where magic from the seven different factions Lightbearers, Maulers, Wilders, Graveborns, Celestials, Hypogeans, and Dimensionals all gather together to create something truly special, even something worth fighting for to serve a purpose and a place between the waging war of Dura and Annih.

Because of this, we all know that magic plays a very important role in the story of AFK Arena. In the past, we have encountered powerful magicians and mages like Belinda, Eluard, Flora, Isabella, Khazard, and perhaps the most overpowered of them all, Ainz Ooal Gown.

Now, a new magician is entering the world of AFK Arena, and we are pretty sure you are familiar with him. His name is Merlin, and he is the Seer of Destiny in the game.

Whether or not he truly existed, Merlin has been an iconic name that is easily associated with sorcery. He was featured in the legend of King Arthur, with the official title of the wizard. Some would say he was the most powerful magician to have ever existed, for some he played a significant part in shaping the literature of the Middle Ages. Even until today, people have been recognizing Merlin for being an iconic figure through the masterpiece “The Story of King Arthur and His Knights” by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

In Geoffrey’s books, Merlin is portrayed as an elderly person with long, white locks and a beard that is just as long as his hair. He also wears lengthy robes and a pointy hat, a visual that has been a common sight in today’s literature books.

Merlin has appeared in today’s fiction pieces and has even been used as mascots of different brands to relate and indicate magic, powerful beings, and all its practices.

Appearance

Let us talk about the character design of AFK Arena’s Merlin inside the game.

Merlin in this game is not too far off from his original appearance. AFK Arena’s version features the wizard in neatly-combed hair with some braids on the side. He also has a long beard of the same length as his hair. Both his hair and beard have golden accessories to make his face look clearer. Merlin is also wearing a long black robe with some beautiful, ornamental designs.

When you look at AFK Arena’s Merlin, he is not carrying a magical wand but instead a large staff that has the same height as his. It is embedded with a real Crystal shard which we assume is the source of his powers.

To add more depth to his appearance, a wise owl is perching on his left arm.

This look of course pays homage to the original Merlin, but Lilith Games and AFK Arena have just tweaked and modernized it a little bit to cater to the game’s young fanbase.

Merlin is a support hero under the Dimensional faction. If you will remember, other popular Dimensional characters have come and gone in the game such as Ainz Ooal Gown, the Prince of Persia and Persona 5’s Joker and Queen. Read our AFK Arena Dimensionals guide to find out the best heroes in the faction.

Lore

“Destiny always calls upon people to wait. People wait for life, they wait for death, but destiny is neither good nor evil!”

Of course, Merlin’s AFK Arena lore was based on his original piece involving King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

His story discussed a little bit about his flawless predictions like during the reign of King Vortigern when he spoke of a battle between dragons, one red and one white. He was just seven years old at that time and had successfully predicted that the red dragon would be victorious over the white dragon.

There was also a time when Merlin used his own magic to return the souls of fallen warriors to their homeland, amassing mystical stones to construct the popular Stonehenge we know today. This was when he was still serving King Aurelius.

Jumping into King Arthur Pendragon, Merlin took him to protect and tutor him until he finally succeeded to the throne, uniting the divided country.

You see, Merlin served countless clans, families, and royal candidates. He can see the future and predict it, which can be a double edged sword at times. When he was still serving King Uther, Merlin knew that the king would sooner or later fall in love with Igraine and would bear Arthur Pendragon. It was a prophecy that was unavoidable.

Disguised as the Duke of Cornwall, Uther was able to spend some illicit time with Igraine. The real Duke lost not only his wife and daughters, but sadly his life to false allegations. As the sun rose and the stars faded as they always did, the wizard could only heave a long, resigned sigh.

Merlin would, later on, meet one of his fans — a young, 12-year-old girl named Vivienne who can replicate his powerful magic. He agreed to teach her some spells, such as how to illuminate her reed.

Everything was going along well, when one day Merlin realized that Vivienne bore some resemblance to Arthur’s mother, Igraine. It was only then that it dawned upon Merlin that the young girl, whose features had blossomed splendidly, resembled not only Igraine, but also the long-deceased Duke of Cornwall… Some wild suspicions arose in his mind, but he hastily quashed them.

When Merlin was leaving Camelot, he started getting a bad feeling about Vivienne. While he was dreaming, he immediately knew that King Arthur was in trouble.

Forcing himself to wake from his precognitive dream, he decided upon returning immediately with Vivienne in-tow to rescue Arthur, but he was suddenly submersed in another deep sleep. In the midst of this unshakable sleep, forcing open his drooping eyelids, the wizard saw the trees around him entangle, binding together, wrapping themselves around him. A living prison. Vivienne’s lips opened and closed, muttering the words to the last spell Merlin would ever teach her – unbreakable sleep.

Merlin’s long slumber ends up in a land far from Britain — yes, you guessed it correctly. Merlin is now in Esperia! An owl greeted him in the land, transforming him into a Dimensional traveler in the foreign lands.

Abilities

• Destiny Foreseen – Merlin foresees impending danger, allowing him to reduce the damage received by himself and all allies by 25% for 8 seconds. While Merlin’s premonition is still occurring, if an enemy that is symmetrically positioned uses their Ultimate ability, all allied heroes will receive a runic shield that has a value equal to 180% of their own max health, which exists for 5 seconds. While the shield exists, it prevents enemy control effects and cannot be dispelled. If a premonition is still in effect when Merlin uses his Ultimate ability again, the duration of this ability shall be reset.

Level 81: All damage received by allied heroes is reduced by 30% while Merlin’s premonition is in effect.

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Level 161: All damage received by allied heroes is reduced by 35% while Merlin’s premonition is in effect.

• Magical Amelioration – Merlin calls upon the forces of magic to heal himself and his most injured ally for 4.5% max health per second over 8 seconds. 30% of all damage dealt to this injured ally during the healing period is borne by Merlin.

Level 21: Heals 5% max health per second.

Level 101: Heals 5.5% max health per second.

Level 181: Heals 6% max health per second.

• Karmic Law – When Merlin is suffering from the effects of an enemy control ability, he dispels the majority of the negative effects currently affecting him and lets loose his Spirit Owl, who proceeds to imprison the source of the effect for 3 seconds, causing them to lose health equal to 150% of Merlin’s Attack Rating every second. This ability cannot be dispelled. This ability can be triggered once every 8 seconds.

Level 121: Enemy loses health equal to 170% of Merlin’s Attack Rating every second.

Level 201: Ability can be triggered once every 6 seconds.

• Guardian Owl – When Merlin suffers fatal damage for the first time he enters a spirit form and seeks refuge in his Spirit Owl. While in spirit form, Merlin protects his most injured ally, during which time both Merlin and the ally recover 10% max health per second over 7 seconds. When Merlin stops protecting his ally, he reappears in his original position. If the allied target dies while Merlin is protecting them, Merlin will prematurely reappear in his original position. This ability may only be used when there are surviving allies still on the battlefield.

Level 141: Damage received by ally while Merlin is in spirit form is reduced by 30%.

Level 221: Value of health recovered per second is increased to 15%.

Tips for using Merlin

• By the looks of it, Merlin is already looking like one of the best support heroes in the game. He has team damage reduction, healing, and crowd control immunity all in his kit. With this, can we say that Merlin is actually one of the hottest support heroes in the game right now?

• Merlin’s Destiny Foreseen gives out a massive shield to all your allies. This could really come in handy as a counter to the Ainz Ooal Gown composition which highlights the other Dimensional character, who is really in the meta right now.
• Level up his furniture ability, Foresight, up to 9/9. It is already looking insane on paper especially since Merlin can immediately cast his ultimate, Destiny Foreseen, and give your team a head start by shielding them from any damage.

Heroes that can synergize with Merlin

• Arthur – We already have the wonderful wizard Merlin, so why don’t we complete the whole gang by including the king himself, Arthur? Arthur is a tank, and one of the first heroes in the Dimensional faction. He can deal quite the AoE (area of effect) damage against enemies with his Smite ability.

Smite claims the Excalibur sword for Arthur, strengthening all his normal attacks and then dealing a maximum of 480% damage to all enemies in front of him. 

Now, can you imagine a maxed out Arthur and a maxed out Merlin, side-by-side in one team? Arthur can be your tank slash damage dealer while Merlin is just there to support with his Destiny Foreseen ability.

Arthur will deal AoE damage to enemies while Merlin will give AoE protection to all of your team — it already sounds like a promising combination!

• Ainz Ooal Gown – You know what they say… If you can’t beat them, join them.

Which is why we think it is a good idea to put Ainz Ooal Gown and Merlin under one party. Most players would immediately think Merlin can counter the Ainz Ooal Gown composition, but what they don’t realize is it can further strengthen it, especially if you are one of the players who have been utilizing the Overlord in this meta.

Dealing a maximum of 580% increased damage to all enemy targets, the way Ainz will work in your party is pretty similar to Arthur’s. AoE damage is the game, and Ainz, together with Merlin, can definitely take you to Esperia’a end game. 

• Eluard – Further hone your defenses by including Eluard in your dream team. He is a mage-support hybrid and his Divine Shields are his biggest allies.

Get Eluard in your composition, as well as Merlin, and your future in AFK Arena will look so much stronger than an unbreakable brick wall.

Are you excited in getting and trying out Merlin already? Why not test him out by playing AFK Arena on PC via BlueStacks? You can use the Eco Mode feature to farm all the resources you need for Merlin. Additionally, enabling the Eco Mode when you run the game also lowers your PC’s resource consumption.