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Hero

Champion Roles

Making the most of Shop Titans champions

General Principles

  • This guide was written to provide some general principles so as to not be too dependent on the level of the champion and their exact stats, however, it is recommended to evaluate specific outcomes in the simulator using data for the particular champions and heroes in an individual’s roster
  • The simplest way to think about champions is essentially as free buffs to your heroes. They can also be equipped with familiars to provide a little more customizability and increase their relative contribution
  • Over time, champions lose some of the early-game shine and become overshadowed by a roster of late-game heroes, however, many of them maintain some important niche uses, particularly for events and being able to break barriers corresponding to their own natural element
  • When not fulfilling a specific niche use in the later-game stages, Champions are often relegated to standard questing rotations, being partied up with other heroes or sent solo to farm bosses of low-tier quest areas

Argon

General Info
  • Element: Light 
  • Argon is the first champion accessible and he provides the most significant power-boosting to heroes in terms of attack and defense potential (and his hair stays impeccable while doing it)
  • This is useful for completing more challenging quest areas or difficulties than a party could otherwise do on their own and can be particularly helpful to complete higher levels of the Tower of Titans or the Lost City of Gold
Max-Rank Innate
  • Aura of the Paladin
    • +40% attack 
    • +40% defense
Recommended use-cases
  • Accessing more difficult quest areas in early- and mid-game
  • Defeating bosses without max heroes (eg, Tower of Titans, high-level LCOG)

Lilu

General Info
  • Element: Water 
  • Lilu’s ability enhances a party’s survivability by way of HP increase and regeneration over a battle (not to mention with her boundless optimism) is particularly effective when paired with heroes with high evasion (because they get more chances to heal over time)
  • Some very effective early/mid-game party compositions with high evasion heroes (eg, wanderers) can be built to take on difficult quest areas – complement with lizard spirits to take full advantage of this effect
  • Lilu also decreases the rest time of a party after a quest and, as such, can be considered when trying to increase the rate of questing – when pressed for time with events, for example
Max-Rank Innate
  • Sacred Circle
    • Heals 20 HP/turn 
    • +25% more HP
    • +50% faster resting time
Recommended use-cases
  • HP regen is most effective with high evasion heroes
  • Decreasing time required to complete quests/events

Sia

General Info
  • Element: Air 
  • Sia’s primary use is to increase the number of components obtained from a quest
  • She can be useful at any stage of the game, to keep up with the demands of crafting or flipping to market 
  • Her real time to shine is during the Lost City of Gold where she should be used as often as possible; she should ideally always be used for LCOG keybearer bosses from level 9 and up, paired with a bugle for maximum effect
  • Sia provides a decent attack boost as well, but other champions provide more bang for the buck when boosting heroes
  • Pro-tip: Don’t forget to book her early for belly-dancing classes
Max-Rank Innate
  • Eye of the Beholder
    • +100% components/quest
    • +25% attack
Recommended use-cases
  • Keeping components in stock at any time
  • Maximizing gold bars collected in LCOG

Yami

General Info
  • Element: Dark 
  • In terms of hero boosting, Yami can increase the critical hit chances and evasion of a party
  • This can be particularly beneficial for crit-based heroes as well as those with some evasion but who are not hitting the evasion cap naturally
  • Yami also decreases the time needed to complete quests and can be considered when trying to increase the overall rate of questing – when pressed for time with events like ToT, for example
  • In the Lost City of Gold she can also be helpful when running a smaller party as she helps them keep pace with a full set of 5-man teams
Max-Rank Innate
  • Perfect Ambush
    • +20% critical hit chance
    • +20% evasion
    • +50% faster questing time
Recommended use-cases
  • Most effective paired with crit-based heroes and/or evasion heroes under cap
  • Decreasing time required to complete quests/events like ToT or LCOG

Rudo

General Info
  • Element: Fire 
  • Rudo’s burly bonuses are geared towards reducing the number of rounds of a battle as he provides both an increase to a party’s critical hit chances (the highest increase of any champion) and a decrease in the overall break chances, but only for early rounds
  • This will be most useful when paired with crit-build hero types that hit hard and keep the battle short, thereby keeping repair costs down
  • He also makes a natural questing partner for heroes with high critical damage bonus but limited natural critical chance bonuses
Max-Rank Innate
  • Total Mayhem (*lasts 4 rounds*)
    • +50% critical hit chance
    • -100% break chance
Recommended use-cases
  • Most effective paired with crit-based heroes, even those with low natural critical hit chance
  • Keeping repair costs down during shorter battles

Polonia

General Info
  • Element: Water
  • With her steal-based innate, Polonia is easily the most valuable champion on a roster until a player is primarily selling T11/12 items 
  • She increases a party’s defense and evasion, which is notable because the amount of extra loot she brings back depends in part on the length of a battle, making party survivability and limiting potency key
  • Her ability can be maximized by a) increasing the rate of questing using heroes with rest-reduction skills and stamina drinks / gems to keep her awake 24/7 and/or b) by increasing the amount of loot she steals by pairing her with tricksters (see here for a closer look at how to optimize her ability)
  • As of T12 and Cinderlake Volcano, Polonia’s steals have been significantly nerfed; realistically, they should no longer be described as “super valuable items” as they’re capped at T10 
  • While her value in a late-game roster is diminished when only stealing T10s, she does still buff the tier of items dropping in non-steal slots, so at that point she can be used with nearly equal impact with or without tricksters (ie, the only difference being the number of discount fodder [T10] items she brings back)
Max-Rank Innate
  • Captain’s Share 
    • 50% chance to steal “super valuable” items
    • +25% defense
    • +10% evasion
Recommended use-cases
  • Pair with low-damage, high-survivability heroes to increase loot from quests all day, every day
  • Temple and Peak easy are both sufficient for stealing T10 items; venture to harder quests (if your team can manage it) in the hopes of landing some T11/12 in the non-steal slots as well

Donovan

General Info
  • Element: Fire
  • Donovan provides amongst the most significant boosts to a party in a way that can be tailored according to hero type (he boosts attack when paired with spellcasters, HP with fighters, and evasion & critical hit chances with rogues)
  • This is useful for completing more challenging quest areas or difficulties than a party could otherwise do on their own 
  • Given the dynamic nature of his ability, a range of different unique party compositions can be paired with Donovan to maximize this benefit, for example to adapt to and overcome class-specific debuffs applied by Tower mini-bosses
  • Note that Donovan is considered as a spellcaster and always provides the +14% attack bonus to a party
Max-Rank Innate
  • Philosopher’s Stone 
    • +14% attack per blue hero
    • +10% HP per red hero
    • +7% critical hit chance and evasion per green hero
Recommended use-cases
  • Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
  • Tailored buffing of unique party compositions

Hemma

General Info
  • Element: Dark
  • Hemma is unique amongst the champions in that she is the only one to de-buff a party (draining HP over time) as well as boost it (increases starting HP and attack over time)
  • In many cases she can actually lower the chances of success for a party (unlike the other champs that are pure buffs to your heroes)
  • When Hemma’s innate changed in the 9.0 update (so that her ATK no longer scales with the heroes’ HP) she became slightly less lethal to her teammates; however, using high HP “battery” heroes with her also became less useful
  • In general, she should particularly be avoided for longer battles as the constant HP drain can be a major issue
  • If deciding to risk the lives of one’s heroes, she is most effective when added to teams that would have won the quest easily – the upside is that she’ll end the battle sooner
Max-Rank Innate
  • Consume Essence 
    • Each turn: -7% HP from each hero, +8 HP to herself, +12% per hero to her attack 
    • +25% HP
Recommended use-cases
  • Handle with care; avoid using for long battles
  • Low-tier dungeon boss duty
  • Add to overkill teams to reduce rounds and breaks

Ashley

General Info
  • Element: Earth 
  • Once levelled sufficiently, Ashley provides a decent boost to the attack and defense to any party, which is useful for completing more challenging quests or difficulties than a party could otherwise do on their own 
  • This is particularly helpful for bosses, where her bonuses are doubled and surpass even Argon’s buff
  • In addition to the improved attack and defense, Ashley also reduces questing time; while this effect is less than Yami’s, it can still be useful for increasing the overall rate of questing
Max-Rank Innate
  • Bushido Force 
    • +25% bonus attack and defense 
    • +20% faster quest time
    • Bonuses are doubled against bosses
Recommended use-cases
  • Defeating difficult quest areas, especially bosses
  • Decreasing time required to complete quests/events

Champion Familiar Selection

Champion Familiar to Boost
Barrier Damage
(ie, if not using T12
elements for heroes)
Recommended in General
(Especially if using
T12 elements for heroes)
Recommended
Familiar Spirits
Argonn/aCrushtaceanT12: Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Mammoth/Walrus/Lizard
LiluMermaid > Toadwitch > YetiCrushtaceanT12: Kraken/Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Bear
SiaHarpyCrushtaceanT12: Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Bear/Lizard
YamiTyrantCrushtaceanT12: Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Bear/Lizard
RudoCrushtaceanCrushtaceanT12: Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Mammoth/Walrus/Lizard
PoloniaMermaid > Toadwitch > YetiCrushtaceanT12: Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Walrus/Lizard
DonovanCrushtaceanCrushtaceanT12: Kraken/Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Bear
HemmaTyrantCrushtaceanT12: Kraken/Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Bear
AshleyMushgoonCrushtaceanT12: Tarrasque/Phoenix/Christmas
Pre-T12: Mammoth/Walrus/Lizard
Comments and Rationale
Familiar Selection

Easy button = Crushtacean

  • Champion survivability is prioritized for these recommendations, to maximize the number of quests a champ can run per day (less time spent resting)
  • At earlier levels, optimal familiar choice is situational and the quest simulator will help you assess your own set up; Tyrant and the Opulent Golem are consistently good. However, once your champs can equip T12, the combined strength of the DEF and HP boosts from crushtacean are too hard to beat
Familiar Enchants

Easy button = Inferno

  • With the introduction of T12 enchants in update 9.5, the increased elemental scores mean barriers are significantly easier to break; if using T12 enchants on heroes, the additional barrier break potential from champs may be outweighed further by the benefit of just running crushtacean on everyone
  • Nonetheless, if you’re depending on barrier breaking from your champ, consider matching familiar affinity enchantments with the champion’s natural element
  • If running crushtacean for the sheer added survivability, maximize that value with the highest tier/quality fire element you can (remember they don’t break!)
Familiar Spirits

Easy button = Tarrasque

  • For spirits, consider your goal for each champ
    • As no T12 spirits add threat, Mammoth remains the best way to draw agro
    • Phoenix buffs base HP and adds HP regen that is rewarding with evasion and/or over long battles
    • Christmas buffs base HP two ways: with both a flat and proportional bonus
    • Tarrasque adds a great boost to DEF, which is sorely needed in later dungeons
    • Kraken adds ATK for champs with high DPS potential (but consider their relative contribution to the heroes they quest with – survivability may help them more)
    • Pre-T12, Walrus and Lizard provide good survivability (base HP, or regen, respectively) while Bear delivers an all-around blend of HP and attack (a combination that does not exist with T12)
    • Champs have such low crit damage potential that survivability should add greater value than Carbuncle or Chimera

Temporary Guest Champions

Note: These champs are not a permanent part of your roster, though it’s possible they will return; when available, you can see how long they will be around on their champ profile screen

Reinhold

General Info
  • Element: Gold
  • Well, the day has come.  The King is strapping on his hero boots and is ready to hit the dungeons.
  • Reinhold was introduced as a champion for the 10.2 Update with an accelerated track to hire and rank-up
  • It’s important to remember that Reinhold lives a comfortable life and is generally used to relying on other champions for protection; thus, as a member of your party, he is particularly squishy and provides little to nothing by way of pure stats
  • However, he does have some value through boosting attack, defense, and HP up to 30% each. 
  • Most importantly, he has a Polonia/Tamas-like skill of collecting extra items from quests. In his case, Reinhold brings home an extra slot of unusual loot (eg, paid and op/lux BPs) from each quest (notably not capped at T10), which scaled in tier with the dungeon and in number with his skill rank (but not the length of fight like Polonia’s skill)
  • The King benefits from the company of a tank hero and a DPS unit or two (as he offers little himself)
Max-Rank Innate
  • Wealth of the World 
    • +30% attack
    • +30% defense
    • +30% HP
    • Finds “lots” of “unusual” items from quests, IF he survives
Recommended Use-Cases
  • Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
  • Collecting valuable loot
  • Remember he needs both tank and DPS support

Tamas

General Info
  • Element: Earth
  • This is no joke, dude. Our favourite herb-loving NPC is a part-time champion now!
  • Tamas was introduced as a champion for the 2022 April Fools’ Day weekend with an especially accelerated track to hire and rank-up
  • His appearance coincided with the first appearance of the Epsilon Tower in ToT and was a welcome boon to rosters that were not quite capable of meeting the new challenge
  • Boosting a random amount of up to +200% per attack for the party proved to be exceptionally powerful and, once levelled and ranked, he provided his own decent attack to a party as well
  • Making Tamas even more of an awesome dude, he also brings home an extra slot of leather-based loot from each quest (similar to a Polonia steal slot, but not capped at T10!), which scaled in tier with the dungeon and in number with his skill rank (but not the length of fight like Polonia’s skill)
  • A spellcaster in terms of threat rating, Tamas benefits from the company of a tank hero and serves as a true DPS unit
  • Come back soon, dude!
Max-Rank Innate
  • Wealth of the World 
    • +30% attack
    • +30% defense
    • +30% HP
    • Finds “lots” of “unusual” items from quests, IF he survives
Recommended Use-Cases
  • Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
  • Collecting valuable loot
  • Remember he needs both tank and DPS support

Aang

Note: Aang was available only during the Avatar: The Last Airbender Crossover (Nov 2-29, 2021)

General Info
  • Aang provides heroes with a healthy boost to both attack and defense, surpassing even Argon at max rank
  • He can help complete more challenging quest areas or difficulties and could be particularly helpful during the Nov ToT and LCOG events
  • A spellcaster in terms of threat rating, Aang will benefit from the company of a tank hero (ideally one that can equip an icepick in case he traps himself in an iceberg again) 
  • Master of all elements, the avatar collects elemental enchantments while questing, with greater numbers and higher values in higher tier & difficulty areas
Max-Rank Innate
  • Avatar’s Wrath 
    • +50% attack
    • +50% defense
    • Gains “lots” of elements from quests
Recommended Use-Cases
  • Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
  • Collecting elements to increase the value of items sold in shop

Sokka

Note: Sokka was available only during the Avatar: The Last Airbender Crossover (Nov 2-29, 2021)

General Info
  • The meat and sarcasm guy provides heroes with a decent boost to attack and HP that can be an especially nice complement to non-evasion damage-dealers 
  • A fighter in terms of threat rating, Sokka can serve as a party tank; just support him with enough firepower as he’ll be squishier than the likes of Argon and Rudo for a while to start
  • The boost to XP gained makes him a great partner for levelling heroes
  • While not quite matching her productivity, Sokka can also be used as a ‘secondary Sia’ in terms of component collection and will be almost as useful as her in collecting gold bars in the Nov LCOG
Max-Rank Innate
  • The Perfect Plan 
    • +30% attack and HP
    • +75% components/quest
    • +100% XP earned
Recommended Use-Cases
  • Tanking for high-damage blues & reds
  • Rapid hero levelling
  • Component collection

One reply on “Champion Roles”

just want to add specific case of Yami in my gameplay, as you say “when pressed for time with events”, considering about tower of titan, nowadays it’s 4 days, so you have many spare times even if you do with normal hero, but if you have not enough time, only have like 2-3 hours time to play, considered using yami in ToT, add with compass (gold for maximum effect), it will yield ~15 minutes quest time, and ONLY ~1 minutes resting times for the team, cut down a lot time for each floor needed to complete. Also if you have diamonds to speed up, yami + golden compass will cut down diamond needed to speed up too(better to use in low level tower coz it cost less than higher tower), you only need wait rest time about 1 minutes each time.

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