Hey, guys I was just wondering how good Arcanus is? I just bought him because I always buy at least one copy of the weekly glory cards. What do you guys think of him so far and who have you guys teamed him up with? Being that I just bought him I haven’t really looked at him yet so I just wanted your opinions on him. Thanks!
Like many Glory troops, I don’t see it as extremely exciting. There’s only so much they’ll give us for 300-400 glory. Let’s talk.
If you ascend it to mythic, you get: Dispel, 9 damage to an enemy, +4 magic, and Enchanted. That’s a lot of stuff all in one go. Let me try and break it down.
- Dispel is good vs. enemies that can get positive buffs like Enchant or Enrage. There aren’t an awful lot of meta teams where THAT is the thing that gets to you. (Side note: it may remove barrier and deal its damage? That’d be a bonus.)
- It’s “you choose the target”, which is more valuable than “random”.
- 9 damage. 9 damage. That is very mediocre to start. For reference, for the same mana, Godslayers do 14 damage and people call THAT mediocre. Consider that, for the same colors and cost, Sister of Shadows can deal (12*2) total damage, and Sunbird is capable of 51 damage before Kingdom bonuses are considered. 9 is VERY below-rate.
- +4 magic isn’t too shabby. It still takes 3-5 of those before you hit “real value”.
- Enchanted means we can sort of pretend it’s a 10-mana card after the first activation.
- Let’s revisit 9 damage or, realistically, 13 damage for a 10-mana troop. In the same colors, we have Mist Stalker dealing 15 true damage (increasing per kill) and Incubus charming 2 random enemies for probably an average of 10-20 damage. This… is still disappointing.
- Arcane trait makes the above more complicated. It lowers the activation count to maybe 2-4 until he does decent damage and favors a long game.
So it’s hard to rate this troop better than a D+. There are better choices in the same rarity and colors that seem to hit harder. Arcanus does best if:
- You are in a long game and casting many spells over many free turns.
- You can fill him and cast him almost every turn.
That means he’s great if you’re already winning the game. And the requirement “you are casting spells frequently” implies you’re generating so much mana the Enchanted status is devalued.
So D+, if it’s your only choice and you need red/purple I’m sure it performs OK, but Sunbird, Incubus, Mist Stalker, and Sister of Shadows seem as relevant if not more so.
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Where are you getting that number? The official thread has 21 damage. Mine is mythic with all kingdoms and guild bonus at max and he does 25. Same with Sister of Shadows, 24 x 2 there.
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If you are only buying 1 copy you are indicating to me you are in early game. Try and wedge him the teams you use already use for Explore (or possibly PvP) for the extra +40 Souls this week.
It’s not optimal but try and do this ever week with the Glory troop, when possible for the bonus.
@Tacet is a nice source of info and ideas on teams for beginning players. He is on YouTube daily, and he usually runs through teams with the new troop as they release.
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Upon further thinking wanted to add my two cents. I think, especially early when you may be missing a few cards, the combination of armored and high ancestry is really nice. Against troops in front like the silent one or dark troll he can be a good candidate for first slot. Dispel is nice for any opponent with barrier or submerge (which is super annoying). Even if it’s just to set it up for your next cast, it can be good. I keep coming across a team in pvp but now that i want it i can’t find it. If i do i’ll post it for you.
Regardless of him, there are a TON of important troops that use arcane dark, so if nothing else i’d stock up on glory packs this week for them.
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Sigh. Big sigh.
You’re right. I’m looking at gowdb.com. It lists his maximum Magic at mythic ascension as 6. 6+3 is 9. That would be 9 damage.
But I’m underplaying the effect of bonuses. I’m getting +10 from kingdoms and +2 from the guild. I could potentially be getting more if I max out my kingdom power, but that puts his magic at 18. 18 + 3 is 21. Something’s still missing, because my Arcanus’s magic is 22. That implies I have an extra 4 Magic coming from somewhere? My guild sentinel can account for 3 of those, but there’s still a mystery +1. Whatever.
Now, to my credit, that’s how all my other numbers was pulled. So I said Mist Stalker did 15 true damage? Mine does 27. So in a relative sense, my comparisons hold. Arcanus does less damage than an equivalently-ascended Mist Stalker, and Mist Stalker does true damage therefore I rate Mist Stalker higher.
I think it balances out but sounds a little nicer with bigger numbers. Arcanus is still a more or less “par” Epic and doesn’t rock the boat. @VenusBlue has a point: if you’re missing the other cards I named, it’s not a bad card. I had to run lots of “bad” cards when I was a newbie.
I wouldn’t invest in ascending it to Mythic with glory right away. Odds are if you need it that badly, within 2-3 weeks you’ll pull something more powerful and replace it.
@Slypenslyde the troop menu breaks down stats for you. +4 from event (i.e. weekly boosts to kingdom and troop type)
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Thanks for sharing! It is easy to forget about it. 
@Slypenslyde wrote a great response which I broadly agree with. I’d summarise it to: no, don’t bother…