AFK Arena on PC—Top 5 Characters for the Early Phases of the Game
One of the most important parts of any game with gacha elements is the team building aspect through which you can create powerful squads. In most games, this element usually involves unlocking or purchasing certain strong characters and basing your team composition around these units. However, due to the randomness of the character summoning system, it’s difficult to accurately predict the units that you will receive. Luckily, most games balance this randomness out by offering many strong heroes that are good additions to any team.
However, if you’re a newcomer to these games, it’d be difficult to tell, on a whim, which characters are good at their roles. Especially in AFK Arena, where most of the combat is performed automatically, preparation is key for winning. In this sense, you’ll always want to keep a formation of strong heroes, equipped with the best gear, and leveled up to the max. Read our review of this game if you want to learn more about its mechanics and features.
But the question still remains: Which are currently the best units in the game? We asked ourselves this and hit the books. This article is the result of our research on the best heroes that you should get early in the game.
If you want to discover the heroes that will carry you through the entire early game, then read on!
1. Lucius
We’re starting our list with a special character. Lucius is unique in that, at the time of writing, there’s an event where you can receive him for free, no strings attached. This unit is amazing for the early game since it grants your party the resilience necessary to push past challenges that are even above your power level.
Lucius is a strength tank, ideal for standing on the front lines absorbing most of the enemy’s damage. He is a massive powerhouse who’s true utility is not in the damage that he inflicts, but in the positive effects that he bestows on the party. His main skill, Heaven’s Protection, is a powerful barrier that shields his allies and himself with a shield equal to 500% his attack power. This is the skill that defines this character as it allows your team to press through battles that would prove too difficult otherwise. Furthermore, Lucius can also heal and buff allies with his Divine Blessing, which restores health equal to 200% his attack power and grants a defense bonus for 5 seconds. Anyone lucky enough to have this guy in their team will enjoy a significant boost to their defense and durability, which is particularly useful for challenges like the Arcane Labyrinth.
However, Lucius is not only a good healer; he can also exert crowd control with his Divine Strike skill. By swinging his massive hammer against the enemy, he can deal 130% damage to anyone unlucky enough to get caught in his range while also knocking them down for a few seconds. A downed enemy is a helpless enemy, and Lucius knows this all too well.
2. Ira
A nimble rogue that excels in dealing burst damage to small groups of enemies. Armed with bow and arrow, she quickly takes to the field, piercing her enemies with enchanted arrows that destroy anyone and anything they pierce. Those that survive her barrage are left frozen, crippled, and unable to defend themselves.
Ira is a fragile agility hero that relies on her speed and nimbleness to stay alive. She’s a ranged attacker who feels right at home turning her enemies into pincushions from the back line. She specializes mainly in dealing damage to the enemy while also boasting several skills that can cripple and incapacitate her foes. Her ultimate skill, Hail of Arrows, unleashes a volley of 10 arrows into the air, which rain upon random foes dealing 80% damage each. While the damage of each individual arrow leaves much to be desired, they have the potential to tear an enemy apart if they all focus on a single target. Players can achieve this by saving her ultimate until there is only one enemy left—preferably, the boss—, and then unleashing the skill to instantly hit them for 800% damage.
When Ira is not too busy destroying bosses with a single skill, she has two other abilities that can inflict negative effects on her enemies. Her Piercing Arrows can place a stacking damage-over-time effect on the enemies that can become really painful as she continues to focus on a single enemy. Meanwhile, her Glacial Arrows slow down her target’s attack speed for a short duration.
Ira is unlocked very early in the game, and will quickly become your go-to damage-dealer.
3. Hogan
This character is available from the start and, alongside Lucius, will become a vital part of your defenses. Like Lucius, Hogan is a tank. However, he has a different approach to tanking. Instead of granting barriers and healing his allies, Hogan boasts a huge health pool coupled with skills that incapacitate his foes. After all, an enemy that is stunned and dazed is an enemy that can’t attack. And what better way to tank enemies than by not receiving any damage at all?
His ultimate skill, Knight’s Fury, is a heaving swing of his blade with enough force to leave his foes dazed for several seconds. Players can eventually upgrade this skill to change his daze effect to a stun, which is much better when it comes to incapacitating foes. His best skill, however, is Zealous Strikes which, with another powerful swing, sends his enemies flying throughout the stage. This attack deals only 150% damage, which isn’t very much, but its secondary effect leaves enemies helpless as your other characters wail on them.
Hogan has a passive skill that helps to further his increase his ridiculous health pool to even greater levels. Players would do well to never underestimate this unit.
4. Mirael
Also known as “The Burning Light,” Mirael is a powerful support DPS character that can hit all enemies, as well as shield allies from harm. She excels in the middle slot of the back row, from where her fiery Phoenix can hit all her foes.
Mirael is a no-brainer when it comes to early team composition. Her attacks affect all enemies and, while they don’t do much damage, their effects add up and will soften enemies up for your other units to deal with. Furthermore, while she can hit all enemies, she can also assume a defensive role with her Flame Shield skill. This ability is awesome as it erects a barrier around the ally with the lowest HP, which mitigates up to 320% magic damage. This skill is important since it can protect your squishy units in the back row from ranged magical attacks, to which they are most vulnerable. In this manner, while your beefy tanks protect the front, Mirael keeps your damage dealers in the back safe from any sneak attacks.
Her Fireball attack is deceptively powerful. Like Ira, it unleashes a barrage of projectiles that affect random targets. In this case, she throws three fireballs that deal 100% damage each. If the proper conditions are met, she can deal a decent 300% damage to one unlucky enemy.
5. Shemira
We haven’t tested enough to see if Shemira is a guaranteed result from the first summoning. Regardless, she was the first character that we received from a summoning; a result with which we’re satisfied since she’s very powerful.
Shemira is a debuffer that can cast many spells to debilitate and damage her foes. Her ultimate, Tortured Souls, summons damaging spirits from beyond that deal damage to all enemies. At the beginning, she can convert 50% of all damage done by this skill to heal her HP. Furthermore, this skill can be upgraded to increase this healing to 100% of all damage inflicted, making Shemira a very durable unit as she levels up. Meanwhile, her Silence skill can greatly increase your survivability by preventing enemies from casting skills, including their most damaging moves that can easily wipe out your party.
Aside from her debuffs, Shemira’s other skills involve abilities to leech health from her foes and add it to her own HP pool. In fact, many of her skills rely on her health as they do more damage the more HP she has. For this reason, you should always keep her in the back row, far away from those that mean her harm.
One of the best parts about creating a good team in AFK Arena early on, is that you’ll get much of what you need from the very beginning. In this sense, it comes down to you to nurture, upgrade, and prepare your characters for the battles to come. With the team we suggested in this guide, you can easily overcome most of the initial challenges that the game has in store for you.
This game is now available on now.gg. You can also play AFK Arena online on the cloud.
