
AFK Arena Beginners Guide: Progress Quickly
KNOWLEDGEAFK Arena has become one of the fastest-growing RPG games on mobile, and that is the main reason why we’re making this AFK Arena guide for you. With an artistic beauty imbued in every sense of the game, you’re getting an experience unlike anything you’ve seen before.
In this AFK Arena beginners guide, we are covering everything from leveling up, understanding heroes, progressing faster, to specific details like the importance of artifacts and how you can go from zero to hero quickly.
Whether you’re a beginner or an intermediate player, this AFK Arena guide will teach you how to go from zero to hero in a proper manner.
AFK Arena Beginner Guide: First Steps to Success
Your first steps to success are understanding how the game works. The game is a top-down open-world gacha-style game that is built on the workings of chess. The combat system is all about achieving Ultimates and activating skills to win different matches.
Moreover, AFK Arena is highly focused towards team building, utilizing different characters on the playfield, and interesting a deck that will be unbeatable in different combat situations. To make it interesting, there are many roles in the game that you should know.
So, here’s everything you need to know about the AFK Arena beginner guide.
Hero Roles in AFK Arena
All characters in AFK Arena have a type and a class. With so many heroes to choose from, you might be confused about their roles and how they matter in the game. Roles are available in the game in addition to type and class.
Moreover, the roles that a hero receives are totally dependent on their skill set and attributes. To make it interesting, there are currently 9 roles in AFK Arena that you should look out for.
Tank: These are heroes that can take a considerable amount of incoming damage. Some of the heroes in this role can even heal themselves.
AoE: AoE means Area of Effect. Heroes in this role possess skills that can do damage to a vast area. If you want to attack multiple enemies at once, this is the perfect class for you.
Continuous Damage: These heroes will do constant damage during a set duration of time in the fight.
Debuff: With debuffs, some heroes will make the enemies weaker, like having them attack slower, poisoning them, and a lot more.
Control: These heroes use their powers to disable some of their enemies' abilities.
Buffer: Heroes from this role can make their teammates stronger by providing them with increased attacking or defensive power, and even including other attributes.
Regen: Regen is also known as a healer. These characters are great for providing healing to themselves and the teammates.
Burst Damage: Characters in this role do a huge amount of fast damage in a combo while packing it up in a single attack.
Assassin: Assassin characters specialize in stealth, silent killing, and a strategic damaging.
Factions and Synergies
Next, you should know about the factions in AFK Arena. Currently, there are seven hero factions in the game, and each hero belongs to a faction. With factions, you get many formation buffs and other advantages, putting you ahead of other players in the game.
When it comes to the factional advantage, you often get a 25% damage boost against the heroes of a specific faction. Here’s the list of all the factions:
Lightbearers
Maulters
Wilders
Graveborne
Celestials
Hypogeans
Dimensional
With team faction bonuses, you can get increased stats powers like attack or HP. So, you should always make sure to build your lineup in a way where you have factional advantage.
Daily Quests and Rewards
To level up the right way, we all know that going for main quests is one of the best ways to progress. However, in this AFK Arena beginners guide, we are going a step further. That’s where the power of the daily quests comes in.
With daily quests, you can obtain valuable items and experience that will ultimately put you on top of other players who are playing alongside you. Hence, you should never skip these quests. They are like icing on a cake.
Common Beginner's Mistakes to Avoid
In a game like AFK Arena, you are prone to making more mistakes since there’s a lot of shiny stuff going on. From characters that look like they’re golden to them turning into a completely useless card, here are some of the common mistakes in the game that you should look out for.
Wasting Diamonds: Try to avoid wasting diamonds on things like equipment if you are not sure which place you’re headed. You should save diamonds for a more strategic reason.
Poor Hero Investments: Some heroes are better than others, and by understanding their factions, classes, and types, you can have a good investment. But if you’re a beginner, hold off on buying new heroes every other day.
So, how do you know which starter hero is ideal for you? Let’s find out.
Recommended Starter Heroes
We recommend two starter heroes in the game. The first one is Saveas. This character is melee and is from the Agility class. Being one of the most powerful damage-dealing deals that sacrifices portions of his life just to win, he is the most valuable early game meta. That’s because he can do a considerable amount of damage to the opponents while having a good HP stat as well.
The second one is Lucius, who is a tank hero. He is from the Lightbearer faction and is one of the perfect heroes to choose early in the game. With his ultimate ability called Heaven’s Protection, he can cast a shield around his allies, saving them from a considerable amount of damage.
AFK Arena Leveling Guide: Progress Faster
Leveling up efficiently in AFK Arena all comes down to one thing: resource management. Whether you’re a new or intermediate player, follow this AFK Arena leveling guide for the best results:
Effective Resource Management
There are a total of three things under an effective resource management:
Gold/Diamond: Gold is mainly used to level up and enhance gear, while diamond is used to buy different things as well. So, if you’re new to the game, don’t spend unnecessary amounts on things that don’t matter.
Hero XP: Firstly, focus on building your deck of the main 5 heroes, but don’t drag your EXP on all the other heroes. This will make you a jack of all trades but master of none.
Dust: Also known as Hero’s Essence, this becomes one of your main bottlenecks later in the game. So, you should always prioritize main quests and move towards the King’s Tower to earn more dust.
AFK Rewards: A Complete Guide
AFK rewards are one of the best things you can get to improve your game’s progress. Here, you should know that the higher the stage, the more rewards you will get. Therefore, you should claim these rewards regularly to stay to level up quicker.
You should also use fast rewards that come from your daily tasks, so you can get loot quicker than most players. Understanding the importance of AFK rewards is something many gamers ignore. However, by avoiding this mistake, you can level up faster.
Campaign Progression Tips
If you want to progress faster on your campaign, here’s a complete guide:
Choose the right starter: By selecting characters like Saveas, Lucius, Brutus, or Belinda, you can have an overall stronger start.
Mid-Game: Here, you can build synergy-based teams. Some of these examples include Lightbearer burst, Graveborn sustain, or Wilder control.
Choosing the right roles: Having the right balance is important. Therefore, in your team, you should choose a tank, a support, or a healer, and a couple of damage dealers.
Pushing vs Farming
For the best AFK Arena leveling guide results, you should know when to push and when to farm. In simple words, you should push when you are at a higher level compared to what the game is demanding. If you’re also close to unlocking a new game mode or feature, you can do the same. Moreover, you should always push hard when the game is looking relatively easier for you.
Contrary to that, if your enemies are too high a level of you need a lot of Hero’s Essence, you should farm and gather experience or other resources. This way, you will find the right way in your game, whether it is easier or harder.
Unlocking New Features
Unlocking new features and stages is also a great way to level up. Here are some of these stages and the unlock stage, so you can understand when to make the best of your situation.
Resonating Crystal: Level 4-36
Guild Hunts: Level 2-20
Arcane Labyrinth: Level 2-4
King’s Tower: 2-1
Bounty Board: 2-12
Each of these stages will give you something unique. For example, Resonating Crystal focuses more on letting your heroes level up without requiring extra resources.
AFK Arena Ascension Guide: Power Up Your Heroes
Ascension is another important system in AFK Arena and it helps you understand your hero’s maximum level, their strength, and how they will perform in the long term. Hence, here’s a complete AFK Arena ascension guide for you:
Fodder Heroes: Who to Use or Save
Fodder heroes are such characters that you will only use to ascend others. These heroes aren’t to be used for main team purposes, but just as a stepping stone to level up others. Some of the characters that are good fodder include Hogan, Golus, Niru, and Arena.
However, the characters you should not sacrifice include Saurus, Eirron, Raku, Tasi, and many others.
The Best Heroes to Ascend
Now that you know which characters you should sacrifice and which characters not to sacrifice, here’s a list of the best heroes to ascend in the AFK Arena beginners' guide.
Rowan
Shemira
Lucius
Brutus
These are characters that are perfect if you level them up early in the game. If we’re talking characters whom you should ascend in the long run, you can include Daimon, Saurus, Eironn, and Grezhul.
Some common ascension mistakes to avoid are not over-investing in early-game heroes that will ultimately fall off. This includes characters like Saveas. While Saveas is a great early character, later in the game, he will not perform the same as some other meta characters with great stats.
AFK Arena Artifact Guide: Maximize Combat Power
Artifacts are amazing gear pieces that give you unique bonuses. These bonuses can improve your team’s overall performance, allowing you to become stronger and efficient during your time. Here are the best artifacts you should use by role.
Role | Best Artifact | Why Should You Choose? |
---|---|---|
Support | Dura’s Cell | Great for restoring energy |
DPS (Melee) | Dura’s Blade | Boosts physical damage and overall crit. |
DPS (Ranged) | Dura’s Drape | Improves magical damage |
Tank | Dura’s Grace | Gives you reduced damage and better HP |
Survivor | Dura’s Eye | Improved accuracy and haste |
In AFK Arena, you can get artifacts through the Arcane Labyrinth and the Peaks of Time. So, you should always move towards them when collecting the artifacts. You can also upgrade these artifacts using Labyrinth Tokens. You can get them from the Arcane Labyrinth Shop.
Situational Artifact Strategies
For PvE
PvE includes things like campaign, tower, and labyrinth. Here, you should choose support-heavy teams since a lot of damage could be inflicted on you. You can even go for the burst combinations since Dura’s Blade or Dura’s Drape will give you that early ultimate advantage.
For PvP
When it comes to player versus player, your strategy will change a lot. There, you can prioritize fast burst combinations and sustain setups. By doing this, your team will perform a whole lot better than it would with the PvE artifact build.
Artifact Tier List (Early vs. Late Game)
In the early game, the best artifacts include Dura’s Call, Dura’s Blade, Dura’s Grace, Dura’s Drape, and Dura’s Eye. At this point, you should focus on supporters and carriers because they are the ones who get the most benefit out of it.
However, in the late game, the best artifacts include Dura’s Call, Dura’s Eye, Dura’s Grace, Dura’s Blade, and Dura’s Drape. However, here, you will find that the artifacts are mostly situational. Dura’s Eye and Grace are two artifacts that will remain consistently important throughout the game.
AFK Arena Resource Management Tips (From Top Players)
When it comes to climbing the ranks of AFK Arena, nothing is more important than resource management. We have already discussed the AFK Arena artifact guide, and now this is the step that separates mediocre players from the master of this game.
Gold, Diamonds, and Hero Coins: What to Buy (and What to Skip)
Early on in the game, you will be introduced to Gold, Diamonds, and Hero Coins. Hence, understanding their importance is vital. Gold is used for hero leveling, gear enhancements, and union bonuses. However, you should avoid wasting gold in the Arcane Labyrinth shop.
Then, we have Diamonds that are used to do selective summoning and buying rare gear from the store. When it comes to diamonds, you should not waste all of them on the 10x summons because most of the time, you are not getting a rare character.
Hero Coins are also important as they can be used to buy Elite hero soul stones in the Barracks store. However, buying specific heroes with these coins is a waste of money because the hero coins are quite rare.
Event Participation Strategies
If you’re someone who loves to level up and wants resource management better than anyone, then you should join events. Whenever an event comes, there are many benefits that you will get from it as well. You will receive things like premium currencies, soulstones, and other limited-time resources.
To participate in these events, you should also save things like diamonds, stargrazer cards, and scrolls because this is the right time to use these resources. Events are the best way to level up and get rare characters or items in general.
XPPen × AFK Arena Collaboration Event: Creation Contest & Lucky Draw
The sixth anniversary celebration of AFK Arena is in full swing! For the first time ever, fan-favorite characters Tassi and Ryan are officially partnered with XPPen. Join the creative contest and lucky draw to win amazing prizes including XPPen drawing tablets, Magic Note Pads, AFK Arena diamonds, and exclusive peripheral gift packs. Visit the event page now for full details on how to participate and claim your rewards!
AFK Arena Codes: Free Loot You Shouldn’t Miss
AFK Arena codes are a perfect way to get items like free diamonds, summons, and other equipment. You can get these codes from the official AFK Arena Discord & Reddit, or you can even use third-party blog posts where companies have posted the working AFK Arena codes.
Here's how you redeem them.
How to Redeem
Visit the official website https://cdkey.lilith.com/afk-global
Enter your UID, which you can find in your game profile, and copy it. Also, copy the verification code.
Go to the website and enter the code with the verification code. Once you log in, you will receive in-game rewards.
Labyrinth & Peaks of Time: Pathing & Relic Strategy
In Arcane Labyrinth, for pathing, you should always prioritize elite relics and red chests. However, it is important to know that in this stage, you shouldn’t engage in unnecessary fights because survival is your main goal.
The best relics here are Paladin’s Helmet, Blade of Resilience, and Support’s Embrace. For the Peaks of Time, you should use path guides and rush less. That’s because some maps require you to wait for specific movements to work.
Here, you should claim all the chests since you can get limited edition items like Stargrazer Cards and Diamonds.
F2P vs. P2P Efficiency: Budget Priorities
For players who don’t want to spend any money, they should follow a simple guideline. Basically, focusing on building one strong team that carries you throughout the game will be an ideal scenario. Moreover, instead of prioritizing PvP, you should focus on AFK progression.
Moving to the P2P, you should get a monthly card because it comes with the best ROI. However, don’t waste your resources on one-time heroes that will flop later on.
Advanced Tips for Mid-Game Dominance
As a beginner and an intermediate player, this is the time you are going to need an advanced tip for mid-game dominance. Once you have done the tutorial and started unlocking deeper systems, it’s time to take your gameplay to the next level.
Building a Balanced Team
A balance is all about choosing the right types of characters. So, your core team should contain at least 1 tank, 1 healer/supporter, 1-2 AoE DPS, and 1 Flex slot where you can add in any other characte.r
This ensures that you are getting the perfect lineup. So, no matter what the situation is in PvE or PvP, you have the flexibility to perform as the strongest. For meta combinations, you can try Lightbearer + Wilder, Daimon Graveborn Comp, and Burst Control.
With this combination, you can get the best possible build of decks, allowing you to win against almost any formation.
Countering Factional Weaknesses
As discussed before, each faction has a weakness. For example, the Lightbearer’s weakness is Mauler, then Wilder would generally beat the Mauler. Graveborn is more dominant against Wilder. Lastly, Lightbearer is Graveborn's weakness.
This is a complete faction triangle but how do you ensure that you can counter it? Here, you should always diversify your hero pool. For example, you should have 1-2 off-meta heroes always leveled up in case any counter matchups come in.
Unlocking & Optimizing the Elder Tree
In Chapter 12, the Elder Tree is unlocked. However, this is done by providing the branch-specific bonuses. The key branches here should be in the follow priority:
Support
Warrior
Ranger
Tank
Mage
You should also use the Twisted Essence wisely because you might not want to overlevel low-priority branches.
Preparing for Late-Game Content
Once you’re at an advanced level, you will be introduced to Celestial & Hypogean Heroes, Furniture houses, and Signature item synergies. When it comes to the new types of heroes, you should choose the appropriate building. Here are some to try:
Ainz Ooal Gown (Nuker God)
Lucretia (PvE and PvP)
Alna (Wilder Synergy)
Then, you also have to focus on furniture because they unlock many major power spikes at Ascended. Therefore, start investing in Oak Inn for heroes like Rowan, Raku, Ainz, and Daimon. Once you do these two things, you will be on your way to become an advanced AFK Arena player.
FAQs & Pro Tips
Is the AFK Arena beginner friendly?
The answer is both Yes and No. While initially, the game is quite beginners friendly, if you’re a new RPG player, then concepts like Idle rewards, auto-combat, and synergies might be a bit overwhelming for you. Thanks to the clean UI and guidance system, you can still learn everything quickly.
How much time a day does AFK Arena need?
The time depends on the amount of interest that you have. Typically, between 30 minutes to 1 hour is a perfect time for you to level up effectively.
How to reroll effectively?
To reroll, you need to login with a guest account, use your free summons, and check for high-tier characters. If you are unsatisfied, then repeat the process again till you get an amazing early game meta.
Best uses for guild coins?
The best uses for guild coin include getting Mythic Gear, Red Emblems, and Hero Soulstones.
When to start focusing on Stargazer?
The Stargazer is unlocked in Chapter 15-1. After you have more than 5 Ascended Heroes, that’s when you should focus on the Stargazer.
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