The Abyssal Expedition Guide (Vault of Time)

If you are finding it hard to understand, follow and complete the Abyssal Expedition (ABEX) – Vault of Time, this guide is for you. We will be going from the most basic tips through advanced tricks to help you easily defeat the final boss, get to rank Prince and grab a ton of rewards.

During this event, you join a special journey with your Guild friends to fight against a lot of enemies & their bosses on a huge open map in 14 days.

Let’s start the journey!

The guide is written and shared by AFKArty & whitesushii.

Quick Abyssal Expedition Guide (Updated)

Vault of Time Map

Important Tips for Beginners

1. Save Stamina by pathing with 1-3 heroes instead of a full team when facing weak enemies.
2. Try to obtain 3 stars from fights as that will refund you 6 stamina.
3. Do not use x4 Battle Speed because you could lose the battle in a blink of an eye and cost you a lot of Stamina. In ABEX, Stamina is everything.
4. When attacking any boss, get a plant tile next to the boss and “settle” for a damage bonus.
5. Do not attack first boss right away. Generally, you only want to attack it on the 2nd day.
6. Focus on only one relic tree (preferably Celerity tree) until Relic level 4.2.
7. When you get new hero slots, unslot your strongest heroes (once they are out of stamina) and place them into the new slots for an instant 60 stamina.
8. Avoid wasting stamina on cursed tiles unless you know you can win.
9. Avoid tiles with tough enemies (see more below).
10. Abandon and re-take tiles to complete quests if there aren’t enough.
11. You can abandon and re-take tiles to complete quests but this is only recommended on the last day.
12. Work together with Militia mates and take down higher tier cities together.
13. While pathing, abandon tiles you move off from to save settlement slots.

Starting: Heroes to Bring

Try to start the journey as fast as you can to earn more Essence! The event starts at daily reset 00:00 GMT +0. In the latest update, plaint tiles do not produce for up to 4 hours after the battle phase has started, so your main priority is to get as many settlements (villages) as you can during the first hours.

Do note that hero slots do not regenerate Stamina during the first 4 hours of the ABEX. During this time, you want to start with 4-5 of your strongest Heroes and switch them to the other slots when they are out of Stamina.

If you have Lucretia, use only her during the first hours since she is able to solo plant tiles and village 1/2 (settlements) from the beginning.

Whenever Lucretia is out of Stamina, simply remove her from the current hero slot, and add her into a different slot to get that 80 .

For the other slots, bring your strongest campaign formation, which is usually the Ainz team like below:

or this team if you don’t have Ainz:

Unless you don’t have any strong Ranger carry (like Eironn or Lucretia), focus only on Celerity Relic Tree at the beginning as it gives the highest chance of getting 3-star wins during the first days.

Above are some suggestions but feel free to run whatever is the best for you (generally campaign lineups).

Your AE slots should now look like this (assuming that Lucretia used up to 2 slots of full stamina before):

OR

OR Solo AThane or AThane + Alna

OR Solo ABrutus or ABrutus + Alna

These heroes are great enough for you to do all of the jobs on the first day of the event. Feel free to switch their slots (usually Ainz and Lucretia) whenever they are out of stamina. Fill all of the hero slots after you hit the cap 20/20 building.

For the Awakened Heroes, AThane and ABrutus should be maxed out to use. If they don’t work solo, use them with Alna. They can easily get you to T3.

For the best possible results, play the battles at x1 speed.

For Ainz comps, you want to play in manual mode and use Ainz’s ultimate right when his “The Goal of All Life is Death” is activated (at about 1:15) for the best possible results (3 stars).

If you don’t have Lucretia, here are some strong heroes for pathing (clearing plain tiles):

When talking tiles, focus on upgrades of two. For example, don’t abandon a Village 1 for Village 2, abandon it for Village 3.

Try to use 1-2 heroes for plain or weak tiles to save Energy and earn 3-star wins!

Obtain tiles as fast as you can, connect your tiles with nearby friends and go towards the nearest boss using the path from the map above!

	Super easy to capture. Use Lucretia or strong pathing heroes as mentioned above (normally 1-2 heroes are enough).
	Quite easy to capture. Use 2-3 heroes, or more if required.
	A bit harder to capture, but you still can capture it on the first day. Using 2-3 heroes is enough.
	Hard. Using 3-4 heroes if required, or even 5. If you are not strong enough, leave it for the next day. Remember to use manual mode!
	Most players cannot capture this on the first day. Just don’t attempt to take this one, try later on the second day.

If you are super strong (Resonating Crystal level > 500), below are some of the comps that can defeat the Town 1 on the first day:

After using all of the stamina in the first 8 slots, there are a lot of farming comps that can help rebuild your stamina as listed below.

Farming Comp #1

Farming Comp #2 (Heavy Investments can use more heroes)

Alternative

Super Farming Comp #1 (Heavy Investment)

Super Farming Comp #2 (Heavy Investment)

Empty Tiles (Be aware from Nara)

Now, if you have developed your rangers enough, you can also put celerity (ranger) heroes to the remaining slots. This also depends on your hero pool as well, but celerity in general is the best for Abyssal Expedition.

Pick your strongest ones on this list:

Use Soul Relic for or whenever available.

Should I remove the Ainz Comp?

If you are using Ainz comp from the start, you might want to remove/unslot once you’ve upgraded the Celerity relic tree to level 2.2. Ideally, replace them with or 3 from the celerity list above.

This is because class Celerity (Ranger) is a lot stronger than Mage in Abyssal Expedition.

You want to save for the final boss battles.

When Get To Rank Baron

Example of a boss team to use after getting to this stage. Make sure to test these before trying them out at this stage. Never touch it after!!

Use the rest of the Baron Guide below, if the above isn’t possible.

Add these heroes if the

Swap for

The goal is to hit the “Baron” rank within 15 hours of the event (the earlier the better, to put these guys in).

When Get To Rank Marquis

Once you reach this Rank, you can slot other boss teams, and if you don’t have a full team or lack options, you can slot trio, duo, or solo heroes.

Use the rest of the Marquise Guide below, if the above isn’t possible.

Add these heroes

When Get To Rank Duke

Slot more boss’s heroes

Use the rest of the Duke Guide below, if the above isn’t possible.

Add these heroes

The above hero list is only for Vault of Time – Abyssal Expedition! For the general hero ranking, please take a look at AFK Arena Tier List.

Tough Enemies (Avoid them in most cases)

Avoid battles that have the following enemies:

Getting Stronger

Focus all your essence on a single relic tree depending now at setup you are going and only invest in other trees where necessary (rank promotion quest).

Generally, prioritize attack relics but for later relic levels, getting 2 cheap relics (with some luck from drops) would usually outweigh getting a single relic.

Win Fights

Stamina is required to initiate a fight and the amount depends on if the fight is a regular tile or a boss. In general, regular tiles take 12 stamina per attack. The player generates a fixed 4 food per hour which is 96 food every day or 8-16 battles depending on bonuses.

• Win Fight (+2 Stamina)
• No Heroes Lost (+2 Stamina)
• Win Within 30s (+2 Stamina)

Since losing a fight consumes 12 stamina while retrying only takes 1 (again for regular tiles), it’s sometimes better to play on slower speeds so you can quit/retry before your team gets wiped!

Best Heroes for ABEX

Source: 剑与远征手游兑换码, Bergenholf, DuskWatchIra 

For the general hero ranking, visit Tier List page.

How to defeat Abyssal Expedition Bosses?

Updating…

Zaphrael

(Solo)

(Relic on Mortas)

(Relic on Twins)

(Relic on Saurus)

Zaphreal is very weak in general. You can do well again him with enough Relics.

Desira

Morael

Eluard

The Unhinged

This is the easiest T3 boss to attack.

Grotesque Mage

Spamming 1 hero is very efficient:

Don’t use Raku ultimate if you spam him.

 Ice Shemira

Destroyer of Reason (The Balancer)

Best Teams

(Very efficient, place them at the 9th and 10th slot as soon as possible).

(Don’t use Raku Ultimate)

Notes:

• If you use Raku, play manually to not trigger his ultimate.
• If you use Lucretia, don’t upgrade the support relic tree past 4.3 as the support could live longer, reducing Lucretia’s damage. 

 Mage Teams

Ranger Teams

Warrior Teams

Replacements:

→
→
→

Madian Decommissioned AE Comps

A great and easy-to-understand team building guide by Agronnax #6660

Drez Comp

When to slot?

Drez and Silas will be slotted in spots 9, and 10 as soon as possible. If you can get them in without spending any of their food, great. If you can’t do that, slot them in after food is spent on heros that are getting you more essence per hour. Efficiency is key here. They can be squeezed in earlier if you are not extending your heros (Shooting for tier 4’s when tier 3’s will suffice).

How/When to use

This comp should be used on manual at the start with Drez in spot 1 and Silas in spot 2. Manually activate Drez’s ult whenever possible, but hold off on Silas’s until Drez is behind the boss. Sometimes Drez will go behind the boss and come back before Silas’s ult is ready. You cannot use Silas’s first ult until Drez is behind the boss. This will ensure that both stay behind the boss from there on. At this point you can throw on auto attack. Only use the stamina on these hero’s if instructed to do so by Your captain. Due to the celerity tree benefits, it is most beneficial to use this comp on the last 50% of the boss, after 5.6 celenty has been reached.

Main Comp

When to slot?

Main comp should be slotted in 11-15 and not touched until guild has requested it.

How/When to use?

You should expect to use this comp after Warior is at 5.6 and sus is at least 5.0, but again, don’t use it until your guild requests it. Antadra comp can be used on auto, but it should be done at 1x speed to ensure appropriate damage/RNG is met.

Solo Heroes

Replacement: →

When to slot?

16, 17, and 18 when they open. Don’t spend any of their stamina unless instructed.

How/When to use?

Most likely this comp should be left on manual the entire way through with Raku never using his ult. This will be further tested next AE when we reach the boss, but that was most beneficial for this comp during beta. Saurus should be in spot 1, Raku in spot 3, and your healer in spot 4. All 3 healers provide about the same benefit when invested, but Nemora potentially the best. If you don’t have Nemora fully invested, stick with Merlin or Rowan. We had minimal testing with Rowan, so when able, bring Merlin.

Third Comp

When to slot?

21 through 25. Don’t use unless instructed.

How/When to use?

Hero’s should be slotted in the order provided above (Warek in spot 1 and so on) and the comp can be left on auto. This is our only comp that, requires further investment past warrior 5.6 and sus 5.0 Because of this, this comp will be used much later than all other comps. In a perfect world we raise our might relics as high as possible before using this comp’s stamina.

Fourth Comp

When to slot?

You will most likely slot this comp somewhere in your final 10 spots after reaching the boss if you don’t have these hero’s slotted already.

How/When to use?

There is a lot of freedom here. Rosa can be moved around outside of Athalia and Ainz. If your Ainz can do 140 m damage, but 250 m with Rosa, Rosa is worth 110 m with Ainz. If she adds 90m to Athalia, then you would use her with Ainz from then on. She might also be good with other hero’s as well though that will show up on our solo list.

Solo Heroes

When to slot?

Whenever you can get them in, except for spot’s 19 and 20. Those spots are reserved for your best solo hero’s that are currently not slotted. Please ask if you don’t understand.

How/When to use?

These hero’s will have the most flexibility, as each persons hero Ivineup is different. We did extensive testing with what we had, but you ultimately will have to make the decision that is best for your lineup. Most of these hero’s you will just leave on auto and they are extremely consistent. You won’t ever reset or anything like that. Just hit “attack” and let it go. If some of your hero’s are close in power and you are not sure which to bring, reach out to your organizers and they will instruct you further. He has an extensive list of solo hero’s and the damage that they did during beta.

The below list of heros is done roughly in order of power and investment requirement. So while Baden is listed higher than Mehira, Mehira is technically better if you already have her invested. This is an extremely rough list, so reach out to your strategists with questions:

Relic Priority

Prior Relic Level 5 (Legendary), focus on upgrading your main tree only (preferably Celeirity).

Key relics such as #3 and #4 give your heroes enough Tenacity to survive Gouldos longer, dealing more damage!

Settlement Information

Higher settlements give more essence/hr but players should be careful about making too many small up-grades since they take stamina.

Ideally, only upgrade settlements if the tier rises by at least 2 to be more efficient in this regard.

Also, T8 isn’t worth it since it takes you almost 3 teams and you don’t get much more so never attack T8 except for quest.

Energy Info

Players regenerate 4 stamina per hour for every hero that is slotted.

As such, you want to slot heroes in as soon as you unlock new slots (i.e. spending energy on your strongest team, moving them over to new slots, and putting new heroes into their original slots).

• Win Fight: 12 Stamina (-2 Stamina per Star)
• Start & Quit/Retry: 1 Stamina
• Lose Fight: 12 Stamina
• Bosses cost 24/24/36/48 respectively

ABEX Infographic

This part is for the previous ABEX season

By Arty & Alpattex

Abyssal Expedition Gameplay For Beginners

• Abyssal Expedition can be found in the Dark Forest tab in the bottom left, as pictured below.
• You must be over stage 15-40 to participate.
• This event is a cooperative where you join the fights with a lot of players to beat the final bosses.
• It lasts for 15 days.

Note: The event features 70 Players, the same as a max level guild. Players in the same guild who enroll will always be together and vacancies will include those from other guilds until a number.
You can participate even if not in a guild, you will just be randomly allocated to a “militia”.

Starting Out

At the beginning of Vault of Time, you get placed on a massive map along with all 70 players and are asked to add a selection of 10 heroes to your pool.

Do note that hero slots do not regenerate Stamina during the first 4 hours of the ABEX. So in the first 4 hours, you want to start with 4-5 of your strongest Heroes, and switch them to the other slots when they are out of Stamina.

After the first 4 hours, I heavily suggest choosing two strongest teams of heroes to use:

• 1 team is your strongest PvE Team
• 1 team of strong AoE or self-sustaining hero for pathing.

Ranger Heroes (like Eironn, Lyca, etc.) are currently the best for this event.

Overall ABEX Gameplay

As you’re on the map you are allowed to attack any adjacent camps, each of these camps has varying enemy heroes and tiers. Camps are scaled to a player’s power.

Attacking a camp will use up “food”, which is basically a stamina resource. Each attack uses a total of 12 food per hero. However, each fight has rewards that give food back, the tasks are:

• Defeat an opponent.
• Defeat enemies within 30 seconds.
• Do Not Lose Any Heroes in Battle.

Food is regenerated at a rate of 4 food per hour, and at the moment there is no known cap for food.

When failing a fight, you have the option to re-battle and pay food again, with enemies energy and health staying the same as it was when the previous battle ended, you also cannot use the same heroes that lost.

Note that after 1 hour, the enemy camp recovers and the battle resets (including later camps where there is more than 1 round).

There is a max amount of territory (camps) you can occupy.

The number of camps will go up as your title grows. You are also able to abandon territories in order to claim stronger ones. This works by clicking “abandon”, and after 2 minutes they will revert back to their original state until then you can undo this option.

Note: There is what seems to be a bug on the AFK Arena test server were abandoning a camp, leaving the event tab, and going back, will cancel the timer and instantly abandon the slot.

There is no downside to owning territory besides the possibility of needing to abandon it in the future and I suggest occupying whenever possible.

Camps and Relics

All camps produce a type of resource only available for the event called “Blessed Essence” which is used to level unique traits inside the event.

There will sometimes be an option on certain camps to “Garrison” a hero. This just takes any hero from your overall hero inventory (not selected heroes) and places them inside the camp similar to a bounty board hero, this will generate you more essence than a normal camp.

The essence is used to unlocking “relics”, which are moderate but unique stat boosts to heroes underneath an “elder tree” like structure.

A strategy section further on in the guide will dive deeper into this.

All camps naturally drop relics after a period of time as well, the level of relic dropped depends on the camp and the drop timers seem to be around 12 hours for the first level.

In order to unlock the special effect shown in each branch, you first need all the relics of the branch, then it automatically unlocks similar to the elder tree with leveling.

You can achieve level 2 Relics through Camps, Essence, or combining different lower Relic pieces.

Titles

This are where the rewards and progress come in.

Titles grant you rewards upon obtaining them and give you additional traits, these benefits include extra camps available to be owned, heroes you can use, and max relic level.

There are quests that are achieved through raw gameplay for the increasing of one’s title.

Press + for more details of each title – Credits to xSkye#4210

Miscellaneous Information

In the same tab as Titles, a “Settlements” tab shows you where all of your units are settled and the ordering they were settled in, along with coordinates.

Another tab is called “Militia”, which is the name of the combined group of multiple guilds. Interestingly, the first player to reach Duke can edit the name and icon of it, it’s unsure if others get this power as well.

Map random debuffs

Progression

As you move through the event you’ll fight stronger and stronger camps. These are fightable due to the obtained relics. Some of the fights may have unique restrictions, such as a debuff to heroes of a specific faction.

City-level camps fights will also require multiple teams, similar to boss battles from chapters 31 and above in campaign, and as a result will take up lots of food. (keep in mind before death you can pause and restart just like in the Labyrinth.)

Eventually you may even reach large stages like the one pictured on the right. This is classified as a “Territory boss.”  It is unclear if the “boss” has attributes similar to those in the Solar Plane. There is a possibility these fights happen with allies as well!

The end goal is to fight Gouldos, the Lovecraftian looking creature pictured in the spoilers.

It’s unclear exactly how we get to this boss but through some data mining we can assume you must be at least Marquis in the title and move towards the right side of the map. The boss also has multiple control type abilities similar to a permanent Mehira charm, which only has one counter, which I’ll move into.

Militia Honors

Reach each new title to earn 100 point. Unlocking premium Battle Pass costs $15

1. Militia Honors shall become available during the Vault of Time event.
2. Each time a player raises their Title they shall receive Legion Merits as a reward.
3. After accumulating a certain quantity of Legion Merits, the next tier as well as its rewards will become available.
4. Unlocking the Premium Pass will
reward you with 980 VIP experience 1 points and Premium Pass rewards.
5. Militia Honors will become unavailable when the Vault of Time event ends.
6. Any Militia Honors rewards that were unlocked by the player, yet still remain unclaimed will be sent to the player’s mailbox when Island Survival ends.

Spectators – Star of Dawn

1. The 10 players with the highest Combat Ratings will be displayed as Stars of Dawn. Each Star of Dawn player can be spectated by 1 other Militia member.
2. All militia members may apply to become spectators.
3. Spectators may only apply after enrollment ends and within the first 24 hours from when battles commence.
4. Spectators cannot participate in battles, but can still receive rewards. Title rewards will become available for spectators when the Star of Dawn player they are supporting levels up.
5. Each Spectator boosts overall Stamina Recover Rate for Militia members by 1.2%
6. Each Spectator gives their Star of Dawn player 10% Stamina Recovery Rate.

Abyssal Expedition Rewards

The event rewards players immediately upon gaining a new title, and all rewards are obtainable without spending any money as there are no possible purchasables with abysmal exploration

There are no borders, skins, or other goodies. This seems to be a first time testing of a large scale feature. The rewards are however worth quite a bit, although it’s unsure how they scale in relation to other events that take less time to complete.

Relics List

Credits to xSkye#4210

The Abyssal Expedition (Vault of Time) event is long-term progress, and will not finish within a few days. Once more information is out I will add it to this guide.

If there are any questions please ask me and I’ll try to figure out the answer if I do not already know it.

Thanks to you for your time and good luck with the Abyssal Expedition event!