For the common tier list, check out this link:
Welcome to the rare category. So you thought that there were supposed to be the most common troops? Not in this game. Although the ultra rare slot should be the most difficult due to filling out your mana curve, the depth of this minion pool makes it a fairly tough pick.Take your rare pick seriously, it maybe your most important choice. (22 commons, 39 rares, 20 ultra rares (soon to be 22 as the new goblins get added) if you want the numbers).
Average Face Value is 25 and average mana cost is 9-10.
TIER 1
Wight (R/Blue) Face value: 25. Similar to Vampire, but fixed at 5 damage, gets 5 life though… bad thing, it starts at 4 life, so you want to charge this fast (and it charges much faster than vampire) if your opponent has true damage… getting this effect quickly can often lead to victory. The more you do it, the tankier you become. This can make this card become a super tank with an incredible ability if your opponent cannot take care of this fast (Cost = 10).
Frost Giant (Blue/ Y) Face value: 25. Very squishy for a rare, but 1 for 1 ratio with skulls, and it doesn’t get rid of them… starts with 4 damage… I usually see this hit for 10 at least… it is random, but it’s a powerful nuke! Just protect the guy and it can carry (Cost = 9).
Wolf Knight (Br/Y) Face value: 25. Only 4 true damage to start, but does 7 true damage if the enemy is wounded… anything with 11 health this can take out in two hits… which is quite nice… especially if your opponent can build armor. Fastest true damage troop (Cost = 8).
Boar Rider (G/P) Face value: 25. Deal 6 damage, get an extra turn… HOWEVER, it is deceiving because it REMOVES the row, so you don’t get extra dmg/mana for taking out skulls or gems… still, extra turn gives you amazing BOAR(d) control if used correctly. You could also set yourself up with a skull match for massive damage (Cost = 9).
Summoner (R/P) Face value: 25. This troop is much different than other arena troops, and it makes a strong impact. First, if all your troops are alive, it gives 4 life to all your allies. Basically this is a slightly less good Bullroarer (hero weapon) that has 2 mana types. This thing is its great at buffing up low health carry minions (Rockworm, Blade Dancer, Spider Queen to name a few). If these manage to die, then this thing creates a ghoul, and with a current glitch it will be level 10 instead of 8. With the nice health pool (15) this has, it can stay alive, especially since the CPU may target those lower health minions. Getting a level 10 ghoul is crazy, although its not the best troop, it basically becomes a 5v4… and this could become a 6v4, and so on. Just keep in mind this may block out some of your brown troops. It takes awhile to charge, but this effect is pretty good, and its incredible if you lost a troop. Come from behind troops are great in arena formats, and in arena, none are better than this one. Also keep in mind though that you need a lot of damage troops since this won’t do any (Cost = 14).
Warlock (Blue/Br) Face value: 25. Deal 5 damage, which gets powered by purples, which it doesn’t use. Removes them so you don’t need a purple minion of which is the most rare type… great value if nobody is going for those purples… and even if so you can combo this to extra turns if used correctly. Also fairly fast for a rare, and if your opponent has a Wight or Giant Spider this punishes it fairly well (the latter being a good troop to combo if you have it), but do also note that its harder to quickly combo because of removing the purples despite its low mana cost. Good 3:1 ratio (Cost = 8).
Owlbear (G/Y) Face value: 24. Low face value and uses two most common types… but 7 consistent damage, and reduces any minion’s attack by 2… can help stall and do damage makes this a great card, although you mostly want to target the first troop with this, you don’t have to (Cost = 10).
TIER 2
Banshee (Y/P) Face value: 26. This thing is tanky! Unlike Valkyrie, it only affects blue, but it turns them to red. This thing takes a LONG time to charge, but does 6 damage boosted by blue gems on board as well can make this worth the wait. Make sure you have red minions with you! And don’t underestimate the damage, i usually see this hit for 8+ thanks to its 3:1 ratio… too bad it can’t combo with Valkyrie in arena, but it has its fair charge of combo troops (Cost = 14).
Sabertooth Lion (Blue/G) Face value: 25. Deal 7 damage, but if it lands a kill, moves up to 9. Gaining magic is MUCH better than attack per kill, but it is a bit slow… still, a 9 damage spell moves this to tier 1 easily… lots of stats on life over armor as well (Cost = 10).
Vampire Lord (R/Y) Face value: 24. Pretty squishy, but it has true damage! Starts at 4 and moves up the more red there is on the board… you could combo this or set up your opponent, so be careful. Sure it uses red, but this is true damage that can usually hit for 5 or 6 which can 1 shot a decent amount of arena cards… it gets 4 life everytime it does this too! However, this ability takes FOREVER to charge, and unlike Banshee this card doesn’t have the tankiness to last very long… I generally only see this go off once… maybe twice… it also can’t combo with Banshee and the scaling based off red mana is horrible with a 5:1 off one of its own mana sources… but if you picked Serpent or get Drake Rider its value moves to tier 1 (Cost = 13).
Archon Statue (G/Br) Face value: 27. 7 damage is fine, but if this thing gets damaged, it does a 13 damage nuke! Sure it targets the healthiest enemy, but it is if you are damaged, not your opponent. If you can increase his life, his value goes up even more! Best face value of all rares as well! Generally you should place this last, as this counters some attack the last creature minions (I.E. Satyr and Rockworm) (Cost = 10).
Alchemist (R/Br) Face value: 24. Get 8 gold! Also you turn a whole color into yellow, completely controlled so you should get an extra turn every time you use this, boosts your yellow minions which are common. Not a lot of attack but great support, if you don’t draft anything that uses yellow gems, give your hero a yellow weapon, but yellow is common in arena… doesn’t do damage, so make sure your yellow minions do. Fairly tanky too so this could be a last slot minion, easy to grab a great yellow ultra rare to combo with this (Cost = 10).
Dwarf Lord (Blue/Br) Face value: 25. He does 8 damage, but only to the first target… gets an added 4 armor that can make him a bit more tanky as an added bonus if he kills the target… (Cost = 9).
Griffon Knight (Blue/Br) Face value: 25. He does 8 damage, but its completely random, which is bad. He creates 7 yellow gems, which can be good, and this improves the value of yellow ultra rare slot which is already stacked… but you could set up your opponent with all the good yellows around… big risk big reward minion. (Cost = 9).
Cyclops (R/Br) Face value: 25. Deals 1 more damage than Dwarf Lord, but has 2 less overall health. You also don’t get an extra effect for killing the target, but you can combo this with attack damage increase weapons for extra damage. Of course, your opponent could Owlbear this… the fact that it costs 2 more mana than Dwarf Lord makes it a strictly worse Dwarf Lord (Cost = 11).
Ranger (G/Y) Face value: 25. Deals 5 damage to one enemy and then 6 damage split, laughs in the face of Steam Turret as it also costs 2 less mana. The 5 damage straight up can kill a target and the split can kill another (which is possible with the AoE weapon takeover in arena). Having straight up damage and then split damage it what makes this card pretty good in arena, as you can increase the chance of killing a low health target with 2-3 health by killing one with 4-5 health (Cost = 10).
Pegasus (G/Y) Face value: 25. 4+ yellow is decent, still sucks that it uses yellow… You can’t combo this with alchemist… only hits last enemy… also uses the common green… but now its pretty fast for a rare too, moving to 3 regular matches instead of 4… the scaling is good with a 2:1 ratio, it usually does 8-9 the first time, but this goes down afterwards and yellows are generally contested in arena, do note though that the faster cost makes getting more yellows on the board more of an issue for consecutive uses. Still worse than Satyr, but its close to its level now (Cost = 8).
Dark Maiden (G/P) Face value: 26. Deal 4 damage and poison… poison isn’t great unless you got Scale Guard, and 4 damage isn’t that much… VERY FAST for a rare though (Cost = 6).
Goblin Shaman (P/Br) Face value: 25. Green minions are common in arena, this uses two of the least common types… at least that I see… you need a green minion, but it creates 8 and an extra turn. A great green troop + this = amazing! But a note that if you didn’t get a good green minion early, you could run some risk, you will have to use a green weapon for sure, which fortunately these are pretty good (Cost = 10).
TIER 3
Night Terror (R/P) Face value: 24. Very similar to Mist Stalker, except he removes blue gems to boost damage, which you can work out to be good… doesn’t heal though… starts at 4, but with a 3:1 ratio, usually hits for 7 or 8. Better than Mist Stalker because despite the 10 health… it is faster than mist stalker and can do slightly more damage (albiet sporadic damage) which can make the difference (Cost = 8).
Siren (G/P) Face value: 25. Major risk, make 9 gems of whatever target you attack… with the buff this now does 6 damage… you can boost one of your other minions up… or this one again, but if you don’t get an extra turn, and you don’t kill their minion, that minion of theirs can ramp up quickly… also it can use one or the other of a troop’s mana sources if it has two… making this card even riskier. The decreased cost with the damage increase makes this viable and more like Griffon Knight with still more risk (Cost = 10).
Valkyrie (R/Y) Face value: 25. Similar to alchemist, but worse because blue is less common than yellow and it only has 5 health, meaning true damage can 1 shot it. Still great combo potential with other blue cards… (Cost = 10).
Templar (Blue/Br) Face value: 25. Giving all your allies armor is pretty good, but in constructed this is good due to combo ability… you can’t combo this with paladin… this does no dmg either so you need dmg troops with this one. It is worth noting that it does turn red into greens, which you can control and green is common in arena… another note is that this increases the value of green minions and decreases the value of your red minions. The ratio is also bad with a 5:1 ratio, but you can increase the value of this card slightly with serpent or Drake Rider (Cost = 10).
Cockatrice (Br/Y) Face value: 25. Say hello to the new and improved Nymph, for 1 less mana (which the difference of 9 and 10 is pretty big) you entangle and drain mana! 9 makes it fast enough to allow good mana drains, HOWEVER, unless you want to drain the mana of the first troop, this won’t get full value… sometimes this card is drain mana OR entangle rather than both. Still, decent utility, but it does no damage, so draft damage with it accordingly (Cost = 9).
Mist Stalker (R/P) Face value: 24. 6 damage, it only hits the weakest enemy, but that’s often who you want to hit… full heal if you kill it which is nice… good combo with cards that can give it more life… (Cost = 10).
Warhound (G/Y) Face value: 22. Now as a rare, the value of this card goes down. Both its types are common in arena, and could block some of your other minions from getting mana… minus 3 attack is pretty good, even if it hits the first target, that’s almost always who you want to hit with this ability. Use it twice and often you can leave skulls for your opponent to advance your mana. Very fast for a rare, but still has the stats of a common.This card can increase game times drastically and gives you 1 less damage source than your opponent for ability damage. Being in the same realm as Owlbear decreases its value quite a bit (Cost = 7).
Paladin (G/Y) Face value: 24. This card is great in constructed… do not be fooled! You can’t combo this with templar, and other cards like priestess use its mana sources. If it doesn’t get hit, it will do 10 damage! If your opponent focuses this at all, the damage plummets, and can go as low as two… often by the time I charge this up I do 6 or less… often because AoE will shred this guy’s armor… uses two most common mana types as well… A major note to remember is some of the armor boosting hero weapons combo great with Paladin and does give it that combo potential, but this troop all but locks your hero on taking these weapons and its still a risk, especially if you have other troops that use those mana sources (Cost = 11).
Hippogryph (G/Y) Face value: 25. 8 attack! But 9 total HP is AWFUL! Deal 6 damage with the most common types does not save this card… a decent common card can do about as much as this with more health but less attack. Also, it does 12 if there is an entangled target, but entangle isn’t great, and only Chimera and Flesh Golem can combo with this in the ultra rare slot… too risky to try that… like Paladin, there are hero weapons that can entangle that you can combo this with, but they take awhile, and could give mana source issues to others in your team (Cost = 9).
Bombardier (R/Br) Face value: 26. Explode a gem is fairly nice, 5 damage is nice too, however that damage is random which moves this card’s value down a bit… its decreased mana cost doesn’t help a lot in arena and the 70% explosion nerf made this not so great card into borderline bad card for arena (Cost = 8).
TIER 4
Ettin (Blue/ Br) Face value: 23. Starts with low attack and the lowest face value of any rare (except Warhound). Can get attack by destroying columns, but it does no damage unless you take out skulls… as stated with the Borer, destroying a column is worse than a row, with a 1:1 purple destruction ratio, this means you could increase your attack from 4 to 8-10 in one shot if you are lucky… still could be taken out before this minion gets to attack though (Cost = 9).
Dryad (Blue/Y) Face value: 26. Fairly tanky, but is a healer that gives 7 green gems. It now is slightly faster, and is always a flat 8 heal. Still, healing isn’t great unless it’s a full up heal… and even those are not fantastic… (Cost = 8).
Revenant (R/P) Face value: 26. 4 HP is awful, dies to all true damage if not buffed… gets rid of ALL skulls which is usually bad… but hey, your damage goes up A LOT with the buffed 1:1 ratio… but skulls are generally not that plentiful because they are matched whenever possible. Also, you could save yourself from a volatile board as well as having combo potential. If your opponent can’t deal with this quickly, it could do a lot of damage once your hero dies… especially with the ratio, it could gain on average 8-9 attack! That means with one charge it could wipe out anything with a single blow! Still though, any true damage troop will shut this out before you get the chance to lay waste to everything. Do not match this with Skullblade (Cost = 10).
Rex Warrior (R/Blue) Face value: 24. Similar to Revenant, but the effect is still bad and it consumes its own mana source, although still pretty nice with a 2:1 ratio, also doesn’t get as much base attack… and lower overall health, but it survives true damage better… (Cost = 8).
Rhynax (G/Br) Face value: 25. 5 damage and 1 to adjacent enemies… you can do better with your hero weapon… lots of stats on HP which is nice for base stats at least… (Cost = 10).
Deep Borer (R/ Blue) Face value: 24. Destroy a column can be nice, creating 7 brown gems is nice if you got something that uses it… but it does no damage… that’s it… also destroying a column is worse than destroying a row. However, it is worth noting that this card goes up in value when paired with strong brown troops (I.E. rockworm) as well as troops that destroy rows… (Cost = 8).
Acolyte (Blue/P) Face value: 26. Worse Rockworm, doesn’t use brown, only can create them, does not deal damage, but does create a lot of brown… A note that the value goes up with rockworm and/or if both your other cards use brown mana (Cost = 10).
Star Gazer (G/P) Face value: 26. Similar to Rex Warrior, but you can give this to another ally, but the ratio is worse (4:1). Getting attack is still too slow if only to one target… it is tanky though…. (Cost = 9).
Steam Turret (Br/Y) Face value: 24. Deals 8 damage… randomly split… also it only has 4 attack, but it is tanky… mostly in armor… can die in 1 hit to true damage… not enough to justify in most cases. Also slow for a rare (Cost = 12).
Poison Master (Blue/P) Face value: 25. Tanky, explodes a green gem (which you control the explosion!) But it poisons, and its random, which isn’t great. If you get Scale Guard, the value goes up significantly! (Cost = 10).
Nymph (P/Y) Face value: 26. All it does is entangle an enemy… not worth it… entangle is not that good… Cockatrice also laughs at this card just showing how bad this card really is… (Cost = 10).
