The Best AFK Arena Beginner’s Guide

This is the most comprehensive AFK Arena Beginner’s Guide that covers the most important and basic information you ever need to know for getting started!

I am trying to cover them using the most basic words so that you can easily understand the game and enjoy playing it right from the beginning.

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How Should I Play AFK Arena?

Just like its own name, the way to play and enjoy AFK Arena is very simple. You just need to AFK (away from keyboard), turn off the app itself, and come back later to get the rewards, build your dream teams, get into the new campaign maps and keep going AFK.

Do note that you can also play AFK Arena on PC whenever you want to try hard in some specific events to avoid battery draining.

Slang Words

Before going further, here are some basic slang words you could see everywhere in the AFK Arena world. I think it’s best to understand some of them first before reading the rest of this article. It helps you understand the guides easier!

AFK Arena Heroes

More: Complete AFK Arena Hero List

There are some Hero factions in the game.

Lightbearers

Examples:

This is the all-round faction as it has plenty of Heroes with different skill properties. Together, they can strengthen the other Lightbearers heroes effectively. However, since the Lightbearers Faction is too abundant, it does not fully focus on any role.

Normally you want to pair your Lightbearers with other Factions. However, using 5 Lightbearers Heroes at once is not a bad idea.

Maulers

Example:

The Maulers are really dominating right now in AFK Arena as most of their core heroes could do a significant amount of damage as well as have great support skills. Thus, you can find so many super-carry Heroes here such as Saveas (Early game), Tidus, Safiya, etc.

In general, you could boost their potentials a lot by grouping them with the Wilders, the faction that has a lot of great supporters.

Wilders

Examples:

People love Wilders because they have a lot of notable Supports for so many team building compositions in the game. They are currently the safest faction to focus on if you are new to AFK Arena.

They can bring a perfect balance for almost all lineups, helping heroes from other Factions making the best of their owns.

Most of the time, you will not find any team of full Wilders Heroes viable. You always want to put them with Heroes from other Factions.

Graveborns

Examples:

Graveborn Heroes are also super versatile comparing to the Lightbearers. Graveborns have excellent Heroes for all of the roles in a team: Damage Dealer, Tanker, Assassin, Support, Healing etc.

Their signature features: Getting stronger over time, life-stealing, and game-stalling.

The Graveborn Faction doesn’t have many supporters. You almost always want to strengthen them with Supporters from other factions.

Celestials &  Hypogeans

They are usually at the top of any AFK Arena Tier List but they are not for free-to-play players so I will not talk more about them here.

You will be able to get them from the Stagazing Room later in the game. Just remember that they are not for new players!

 Dimensionals

Dimensional heroes are usually limited heroes, coming from collaboration events with other games.

During these events, players can spend resources to exchange these heroes for free.

Arthur is the only hero that is not limited and can be purchased via the Labyrinth Store. He is one of the best tanks in the game for now.

What is the Lineup? Best Heroes to use?

The lineup is the team of 5 Heroes you use to participate in battles while playing AFK Arena.

Most early-game lineups have 1 carry, 1 tanker, and 3 support heroes.

The carry hero should be 30-40 level higher than the other heroes.

The best carry heroes you can start with right from the beginning:  Wu Kong, Mirael, Saveas, Daimon. 

Tank heroes you can use in the early game are: Hogan, Golus,  Brutus, Thoran.

Some useful supports you can use right form the beginning are: Tasi, Lyca, Rowan, Rosaline, Arden, Pippa, Fawkes.

Support heroes don’t need levels to function. You just need to level them up to unlock their skills and they will be great!

are low-tier heroes which are very easy to obtain and strong during the early game. After getting your hero level to 160, you can sacrifice them to upgrade the stronger heroes, ideally Daimon, Tidus, Eironn, Rowan.

Having a great team composition is the most crucial thing you want to achieve so that your team will have great synergy as well as the aura buff following these rules:

The Celestial Heroes can join any other faction and work as either Lightbearers, Maulers, Wilders or Graveborns to activate the team auras.

The Hypogean Faction is very special. They can boost the power of the entire team based on the amount of Hypogean Heroes you have in the lineup:

• 1 Hypogean Hero: Defense + 30%
• 2 Hypogean Heroes: Energy recovered when attacked +25%
• 3 Hypogean Heroes: Crit Rating +15%
• 4 Hypogean Heroes: Critical Damage +30%
• 5 Hypogean Heroes: Haste +15

Campaign

This is your main progression in AFK Arena. This is where you gain Gold, XP, items, and almost all stuff in the game.

• The higher campaign you can get into, the more rewards you will get.
• Collect the Campaign rewards at least once every 12hr because it doesn’t accumulate after 12hr of idling.
• After you hit chapter 16, there is a trick that helps you obtain mythical gears, it’s to stall for a few days. More details at Mythic Gear Trick

Gears

Upgrade your gears when you are stuck.

Until you get Factional Mythic Gears, do not upgrade any gear past 3-star because it will take you tons of Gold eventually.

Keep some sets for each kind of gears because you usually want to change the team formation. Keep the gears for your main team and Heroes in the Resonating Crystal.

Gears have different types (Strength, Agility, Intelligence) and high-tier gears also have factions. Gears can only be equipped by Heroes which have the corresponding types and factions.

For example, Intelligent Heroes cannot use Agility gears.

• Plate Armor = Strength
• Leather = Agility
• Cloth/Robes = Intelligence.
• Heavy looking weapons = Strength
• Finesse looking weapons = Agility
• Wands/Staves for Intelligence

Fast Reward

You get 1 free Fast Reward every day.

The Fast Reward gives 2 hours worth of campaign idling rewards. The next Fast Rewards cost 50 Diamonds each (not worth spending during the early game).

Fast Reward – Worth It?

Aside from getting the Free Fast Reward every day, I would recommend you to spend 50 Diamonds for the extra Fast Reward every day, starting from Chapter 16-12.

This is because using Fast Reward gives you chances to get Mythic gears. It also gives you more Hero XP to level up your Heroes faster, helps you complete with Pay-to-win Players in the Arena easier. Higher-level Heroes also give you a better progression for Campaign/Chapter/Tower/Voyage etc.

It’s totally worth it to spend 50 Diamonds for Fast Reward every day.

Read more: How to use Fast Rewards Effectively

Merchants

Check the Deals daily for free rewards. This actually helps you a lot in the long run. You will also get one extra bonus every week and every month.

If you want to spend some dollars in the game, your best picks are:

• The progression reward: Available during your first 7 days.
• Monthly Card & Deluxe Monthly Card

Those are the best bangs for your bucks.

Quests

There are 3 kinds of Quests: Daily quests, weekly quests, and Campaign Quests.

• Daily quests & Weekly quests:  Make sure you complete it to get the rewards before the timer reset.
• Campaign quests: You will get the rewards eventually as there is no timer.
  Follow the game Social Medias to get the free Diamonds. Switch your language to Chinese & Korean to show some extra quests, follow the required social media profiles and get extra Diamonds. More details here.

Daily Reset

Daily Reset happens at 00:00 UTC time.

All of the daily limited activities reset by this time. For example Team Hunting, Fast Rewards, Bounty Quests, Daily Quests etc.

Bag

The bag is the place where you store all of your items.

• Summon the Heroes when you have enough 60 shards to open.
• Save the hourglasses and don’t use them until the game forces you to do so. The rewards you get from the hourglasses are based on your campaign progression so that you want to keep them as long as possible.

Mail

Mail is where you get the messages from dev teams and other players. All of the rewards you receive will also be sent to your mail.

Check the Mail carefully and make sure you don’t miss the Soren from Team Hunting!

Friends

Friends are the great companions that will help you explore the AFK Arena world a lot easier.

Send and receive the companion points ( hearts) here. You can send max 30 hearts every day but can only receive 20 hearts at max. Having 100 hearts gives you 10x summons in the Noble Tavern.

Later in the game, once you have unlocked the Mercenaries feature, you can hire 3 specific Heroes from your friends to use in Campaign, King’s Tower and some other activities in-game, like the Lost Sigils for example. Note that you can only use the hired Heroes once per activity every week, so only use them when you are stuck!

Wall of Legend

This is where all of the top player names are mentioned.

For most people, this is the place where you get free Diamonds whenever someone achieve a huge milestone in the game.

What to Buy in Stores?

The Store is located in Ranhorn. This is where you can purchase various kinds of items, from Hero’s Essence to high tier Gears.

Here are some of the items you would always want to purchase from the Store:

Normal Store:

• You always want to buy the Hero’s Essence with Gold. Even you don’t need it for now, just buy it, you will thank me later.
• Always buy the 5x Elite Hero Soulstones = 90x Diamonds. This is probably one of the best ways to spend your hard-earned Diamonds. You only need 1080 Diamonds to get a guaranteed Epic Hero. A lot of times, spending 5400  Diamonds on Summoning doesn’t give you a single Epic Hero.
• Always buy with Gold.
• Buy when you can afford (Normally map 22+)
• Do not buy anything else!

Guild Store

Get the Guild Coins from Guild Hunting. Save your Guild Coins until you can get Mythic items from Guild Store. Get the Gears for your main carry first.

Buy Only Mythic Gears after Campaign #12-1 and Mythic + Stones (after Campaign #21-1).

Barracks

Get the Hero Coin from retiring heroes in Rickety Cart. Save your Hero Coins and buy only Ezizh from this Store. He is the best investment here until your late game.

Lab Store

At the very beginning, buy the first 2 Hero Essence that costs 900 Lab Tokens. Do not buy Hero Essence here after this.

Then, start buying Heroes in the Lab Store following the below priority:

Arthur → Dimensional Emblems → Emblem Chest → Wu Kong

If there is any new Dimensional Hero Exchange event running, it’s recommended to grab that hero first using Lab Tokens.

Challenger Store

This unlocks after Campaign 9-20. Farm your Challenger Coins to 250k first before making the decision on how to use your Coins.

Challenger Store Purchase Priority:

Ezizh → Zolrath → Athalia → Orthos → Flora

I don’t recommend spending your hard-earned Challenger Coins on normal-faction heroes () since they are very easy to get. 

Emblem Chests are way too expensive here and are not worth buying.

The Noble Tavern

The Notable Tavern is where you can spend your Summon Scrolls, Diamonds and your Companion Points to summon the Heroes.

• Normal Summon: Only buy the x10 Scrolls = 2,700 Diamonds.
• Faction Summon: Normally, Free-To-Play players go for the Graveborn/Wilder Faction because these two factions have the best heroes in the game that can carry you from the early to the late game. It is recommended to stick with one faction from the beginning. From Chapter 20/21, you can decide which faction to focus on next. This helps you find fodders and copies of the Heroes you want to ascend easier. Do not switch your main faction If you are a Free-to-Play player. It will cost you tons of time to get to build up a decent team again.
• Companion Pull Summon: Here you can summon by using your Companion Points. Focus on 10xSummon and keep the redundant points for the next week so that you can complete the Summon 20 Heroes quest early.
• Stargazing Room: This feature unlocks at VIP 13 or after Campaign 15-40. If you are a Free-to-Play player, do not ever spend on this. You will get some cards from different activities in the game.

Important Tips for The Noble Tavern

Check out The Notable Tavern article for more details about Hero Droprate and more!

Wishlist

Put these heroes on the Wishlist inside the Noble Tavern to have a much higher chance of getting them when summoning.

What is the Guild?

Take a look at this article to read more about Guild: AFK Arena Guild.

• There are 2 Guild Bosses:
  • Wrizz: Players can raid every day.
  • Soren: Only open once the Guild had 9,000 Activity Points.
• You can get Gears (have a small chance of getting Legendary Gears), Gold and Diamonds.
• Guild Members can help each other activate the Library buffs and do Bounty Quests.
• Guild Members can participate in Guild Wars vs. other Guilds.
• The member cap of the guild is determined based on Guild level.

Tips:

• As soon as when you start playing the game, join a Guild. Joining a Guild soon help you quickly fill up all of the Library Unions in order to gain significant buffs for your Heroes.
• Try to join level 5+ Guild to maximize the Guild Hunt rewards.
• It is totally okay If you want to start your own Guild. Always have your Soren open as soon as the guild points hit 9,000.
• Ensure your Guild is active. Avoid joining inactive Guilds.
• Participate in the Guild Hunting at the end of the day to make sure you attack with the strongest possible team.

What is Library?

Check this article our for more details: Library Unions

• This is the place where you can get lots of buffs for your Heroes by filling up the empty spots with the required Heroes.
• Check it daily to make sure all of the slots are fulfil.
• You can use either your Heroes or your friends’/teammates’ Heroes.
• Union’s buffs only affect only Heroes in that specific union, not all Heroes in the team.
• Try to rush 5 Legendary Heroes to Legendary+ tier Heroes, which are required in the Library. This helps you easily make friends with high-level players.

Bounty Board

Send your Heroes to complete different tasks in Bounty Board and collect plenty of valuable rewards. Don’t worry, you can still use your Heroes when they are doing Quests.

• Complete all of the tasks as soon as possible.
• Working on your Main Heroes and get them to Legendary+ as soon as possible. This helps you complete the Bounty Board a lot easier and gains the highest possible rewards of this feature. There will be a lot of times when you cannot finish the tasks that require Legendary+ Heroes.

Arena of Heroes

PvP based place. Fight against other players to get a position on the leaderboard & get the rewards every day.

Legends’ Championship

There is an easy trick for betting:

1. Check who is ahead in the campaign progression, that person is very likely to have a better team.
2. Next, check out who has most Heroes wearing maxed gears.
3. Check out who has the most maxed out Hypogean/Celestial Heroes.

Legend’s Challenger Tournament

This feature unlocks after Chapter 9-20. This is a milestone of the game so try to rush to this stage as soon as possible.

Farming Challenger Coins in the Legend’s Challenger Tournament helps you buy a lot of top-tier Heroes with ease.

Focus on building up 2 strong teams from the beginning until the very late game. This is because you have to win 2 out of 3 battles to win the whole match. Thus, it is totally pointless to split your strongest Heroes into 3 teams.

Every day, you have a few free attacks. Make the most of them and get into a better position. The better position makes a significant difference in the long run.

Arena of Heroes

Always try to get into a higher position.

Observe the top 20 player lineups and mimic. Keep learning and experiencing new Hero placements.

Voyage of Wonders

This one is very similar to Peaks of Time. The difficulty of Voyage of Wonders is determined based on your game progress so that everyone can have fun.

• Whenever the Voyage of Wonders is set to public, open it right on day 1.
• Explore the map as much as you can, accomplish the voyage.
• If you are unable to finish the Voyage of Wonders in the first run, try again with different relics if you are able to get them without fighting.
• Voyage is open every 2 weeks. People usually forget this. The level of difficulty is based on your team power when you open it. So, after opening the Voyage, you have 13 days to strengthen your team and defeat the opponents that you didn’t want to touch.
• If you cannot upgrade your Heroes further, try different Relics.
• If you know that Voyage of Wonders is coming soon, do not upgrade your Heroes until it releases.

Peaks of Time

Just complete all of the missions as soon as possible whenever you are able to. Peaks of Times gives you tons of powerful gears & rewards that will definitely help you a lot in the long run.

Tips:

• Check out our Peaks or Time page for the guides If you are finding it hard to finish this.
• When you are about to lose a fight, you can retry it immediately without losing any Hero.
• Don’t hesitate to restart the adventure If you are not able to complete it. The rewards worth 10 tries.
• If you have to pick 1 from 3 bad relics, you can always skip them and come back to pick them up later whenever you get stuck (as long as it doesn’t block your way).

King’s Tower

Complete the highest possible level as you can. When you hit Chapter 14-40, the Faction Tower gets unlocked.

On Sunday, try to hire the best Heroes from your Friends because you can use them once in each Faction Tower and in the King’s Tower.

Arcane Labyrinth

• Open every 2 days. You will need to defeat 3 floors of the Labyrinth to fully complete it.
• Check out this page for more details about the Relics: Complete Relic List.
• Try to go for Flags only to maximize the Coins you can get. In addition, defeating flags give you Relics to strengthen your team.
• Check out our Arcane Labyrinth every 2 days to see the map and try to complete all flags. It is recommended to defeat at least 7 flags of each map in the first 2 stages.
• Red Flag is stronger than Brown Flag but it provides better Relics. You usually want to aim for Red Flags.
• When your team is about to lose the battle, you can exit the fight immediately and try again with another team/composition.
• Shemira is a beast. Take her whenever you have the chance.

Resonating Crystal

More details: Resonating Crystal

• The Resonating Crystal automatically picks 5 of your highest level Heroes.
• You can pick specific Heroes in your bag to the level them up to the level of the 5th highest level Heroes for free. This is why you should only level up 5 Heroes in your team.
• Fill up all of the slots you have but leave 1 slot open all the time. This is because usually, you want to change the Hero to finish a specific task/stage but you need to wait 24 hours to use the slot again.
• You want to put your Heroes follow this order: Supports → Tank → DPS.
• Just spend the currency of the Resonating Crystal whenever you get it. It doesn’t have the use in any other part of the game.

Useful Trick: If you go to the Rickety Cart and reset a Hero that was in the pentagram before, the rarest Hero in your bag will take the place. If that Hero is in the crystal, it will not trigger the 24hr timer.

Temple of Ascension

• This is the place where you ascend your Heroes to higher tiers.
• Ascend all of your Rare/Elite copies to Rare+/Elite+ whenever possible to save the Hero slots. This is because you have to ascend them to Rare+/Elite+anyway.
• You should always keep your Rare+ copies until you don’t have any hero slot left. Doing this gives you the efficient ascending management.
• Check our Tier List to see which Heroes you should focus on. Saveas is excellent for the early game. Shemira, Lucius and Brutus are beasts during the mid game.

Important Tip:

• Do not upgrade your Elite+ Hero to Legendary without having another Elite+ copy of that Hero. This is to avoid being stuck at level 140 for a very long time. But, you can do this with Legendary Heroes because you can use then later on to upgrade your Main heroes. It is not recommended to upgrade Legendary Hero to Legendary+ because you need 2 Elite+ copies of that hero. Make a plan first.

Resource Management

Keep all of the resources you have in the bad until the last moment. Use them one by one until the chapter 22+. This is because the rewards you could get from those are based on your current highest stage. The higher stage you are at, the more rewards you get when opening Reward Chests, Hourglasses, Piles of Essence, Emblems, etc.

You can open the Soulstones and Arena Tickets whenever you want.

You don’t need to upgrade any gear below Mythic, it’s north worth it to do that. Save those gears to enhance your Mythic gears later on in the game. New players waste tons of Gold for upgrading low-tier Gears during the early game.

Rickety Cart

This is where you can reset any hero you want back to level 1 and destroy all of the common Heroes that are not being used, in exchange for the Hero Coins, which is used to purchase items and Heroes in the Barracks.

Tip: It’s best to spend your Hero Coins on Elite Hero Soulstones.

More details: Rickety Cart

Chats

• Be nice to other players.
• Do not follow links that offer free gems. They are all scams.