Complete guide to The Elder Tree in AFK Arena: How to level-up branches effectively, Elder Tree Tier List, stats, and ability details.
What is the Elder Tree in AFK Arena?
The Elder Tree is located in the Library section, being unlocked from Campaign Chapter 8-40. This is where you can increase the stats and unlock new skills/abilities for each specific class in AFK Arena.
Sustenance = Support Heroes
Sorcery = Mage Heroes
Might = Warrior Heroes
Fortitude = Tank Heroes
Celerity = Ranger Heroes
As you level up the Elter Tree, all of the Heroes linked to the tree will be powered up. New special skills for different hero classes will also get unlocked.
The higher ascension-tier your Heroes are, the higher level your tree is. The level of the tree determines the level cap of each tree branch.
How to obtain Twisted Essence?
Upgrading the tree branches costs 
Twisted Essences! You can find it via:
- Twisted Realm in Guild building.
- Campaign AFK Rewards.
- Events.
How to level up Elder Tree Branches Effectively
Guide by Leanker
Early Game
Recommendations: All to level 5 → Main branch to level 15 → to level 15 → to level 30.
In the early game, stats matter the most. Take all branches to level 5, your main branch to level 15, Sustenance to level 15, then Celerity to level 30. Skip if the level is capped.
When you are in chapter 12, the enemy’s power growing pretty fast as you are getting into the mid-game.
When you pass some chapters quickly, you will get stuck for a very long time as you have never been before.
At the moment, level up all of the branches to level 5 first to get the instant ROI.
Then, level up the main branch to level 15 (and skip it later).
The stats only are totally worth it, even for Sorcery units.
The next goal is Sustenance to level 15. Both stats abilities are extremely crucial for Sustenance in the early game progression as a lot of sustenance heroes are easy to use in a lot of formations, even at low ascension level.
The next goal is getting Celerity to level 30. This is by far the best thing you can get from the Elder Tree: 110 Haste.
You of course cannot get the Celerity 30 in a short time, depending on your tree’s level cap also.
If you get capped when working on it, switch to another branch and come back to it later once you are able to. Reset the tree if needed.
Mid Game
Recommendations: 10 → 25 → 15 → 50
In mid-game, you will want to max key abilities such as the third Celerity ability. Go for it as soon as you hit the level cap of 45 or higher.
Get Might to level 10.
While Might carries don’t get too many benefits from the tree at the moment for the campaigns, the first ability is the exception: 18% additional damage + reducing 32% recovery rate to the enemy. This is kinda 1/2 of Ferael!
A lot of players like turning their Might heroes into versatile supports.
Sustenance lvl. 25 unlocks a superb ability, giving them 60 Energy after 15s into the battle. You want to keep using Sustenance Heroes like 
Tasi or 
Rowan in higher campaign chapters.
Fortitude to level 15: Fortitude has some key abilities and haste reduction. This is not the top priority even if your main carry is 
Daimon because it is not carry oriented. However, when you can use tank heroes for support, the value of this increased by a lot.
At last, Celerity to 50.
If your level cap is 45, just skip it and come back to work on it later! 140 Haste = Excellent value!
Late Game
Recommendations: 37 → 15 → 47 → 37
Approaching the late game special stats will start taking priority. Haste from Sustenance is crucial, as well as life leech and ability I of might.
This is where you can work on the tree flexibly.
You can even get Might to level 37 before anything else here.
Do with caution because even the support bonuses are totally worth it!
Even Sorcery lvl. 15 can buff other trees to do things it cannot do here. We want to utilize its second ability on budget.
Stats start to matter here. Hate buff for Sustenance heroes is crucial for both PvE and PvP, especially for the God Comp.
At this point, you should have the access to almost all key heroes in the game, meaning you want to have all key benchmarks at this point with the exception of Fortitude, you only want to work on it at the end game because the top tankers in the game require a lot of investment that you don’t have during the early game: 
Mezoth, 
Orthos, 
Skreg, 
Albedo, 
Arthur, etc.
End Game
Recommendations: 32 → 25 → 62 → 47
In the end game, you will orientally invest rewards long term goals, grabbing key abilities in Fortitude, CC Immunity in Sorcery, and Haste in Sustenance.
Mezoth, Orthos,… are shining here. They are no longer forbidden words.
Stats do really matter here! We want to more gain more stats!
The Fortitude level 32 unlocks a haste point and offers a lot of abilities, letting you be ahead of campaign and PvP.
The Sorcery 25 is kinda budget but useful for heroes like 
Safiya, 
Ainz, 
Mehira, etc.
Sustenance to level 60+: This should be the first tree you want to get past level 50s. Getting it to level 62 gives you a significant amount of stats comparing to any other level. Excellent for both PvP God Comps in Campaigns.
Finally, getting Fortitude to level 47 should be my last recommendation for now. You get 1.5 Haste on level 37 and 47 while unlocking all level 3 abilities.
At this point of the game, you want to reset the tree quite often for Abyssal Expedition or Legends’ Championship. For the campaign, pushing Celerity to 77 is the next goal!
The Elder Tree Stats
The Elder Tree Tier List
Shared by seven_wings
| Class | Level | Rate | Quick Review |
Support |
5 | B | Good effect and duration but being cast only once during early battle might not have a great impact |
| 15 | A | Decent sustain effect with a moderate cooldown | |
| 25 | B | Considering the cooldown, cc immunity is not reliable and gained energy over a minute is less than a quarter of an ultimate | |
Mage |
5 | S | Great effect, no cooldown; easily the best level 5 ability across the board |
| 15 | C | The effect appears weak, but maybe in long battles, it will make a difference | |
| 25 | C | A once per batt e weak effect triggered when you’re almost dead | |
Warrior |
5 | B | The effect can be either good or useless, but due to the popularity of shields it will more often than not see use in battle |
| 15 | B | Good effect but the shield is too weak to justify the long(est) cooldown and short duration | |
| 25 | C | The effect and duration are rather weak for a once per battle ability (that will be cast early on) | |
Tank |
5 | C | Not bad not reliable either; sometimes it might save the tank, but it’s weak to burst |
| 15 | A | Even if the tank gets burst down early on he won’t go down without AoE damage for 9% of enemy health plus debuff | |
| 25 | B | Has multiple chances during a battle to keep a tank alive | |
Ranger |
5 | C | Mediocre to good ability held back by its once per battle cast |
| 15 | S | Great effect on a short cooldown, although it won’t work versus bosses | |
| 25 | A | A good ability that can be great situationally, versus enemies with summons;won’t work versus bosses |
Quick Look at Elder Tree Skills
Shared by seven_wings
| Class | Level | Trigger | Effect | Duration | Cooldown |
|
Support |
5 | Support heroes casting ultimate for the first time | The most injured ally gains a shield equal to 220% of the support attack rating | 7s | Once per battle |
| 15 | Support heroes healing an ally | Support hero also heals the most injured ally for 100% of support hero attack rating | Instant | 10s | |
| 25 | Every 15 seconds | Recovers 6% Energy and be immune to CC | Instant/1.5s | 15s | |
|
Mage |
5 | Mage heroes casting ultimate | Attack Rating +10% | 3s | No Cooldown |
| 15 | Mage heroes casting ultimate | All allies recover 3% Energy (1% of used more than once within 10s) | Instant | No Cooldown | |
| 25 | Mage HP drops below 30% for the first time | Recovers 4% Energy and be immune to CC | Instant/1.5s | Once per battle | |
|
Warrior |
5 | Every 11s, vs shields | Deals additional 180% damage against shield | Instant | 11s |
| 15 | Every time an enemy casts ultimate | Gains a shield equal to 15% of their max HP | 3s | 16s | |
| 25 | Warriors casting ultimate for the first time | Gains 14 Life Leech | 3s | Once per battle | |
|
Tank |
5 | Tank HP drops below 30% for the first time | Recovers 2.5% max HP per second | 10s | Once per battle |
| 15 | Every time tank losses 30% of max HP | Casts a shockwave causing (3% enemy max HP) damage, lowering their haste by 3% | Instant/3s | No Cooldown | |
| 25 | Every time tank get healed by an ally | Recovers 9% max HP per second | Instant | 11s | |
|
Ranger |
5 | Ranger HP drops below 50% for the first time | Dodge +80 Haste +10 | 6s | Once per battle |
| 15 | Attacks an enemy whose HP is below 50% | Damage dealt +140% (cannot be dodged) | Instant | 3s | |
| 25 | Attacks an enemy within 5s before its death | Recovers 4% max HP per second, Dodge +80 | Instant/6s | No Cooldown |
Flawless Droplets
In order to level up the Elder Tree, players need to use Flawless Droplets.
The Flawless Droplets can be obtained when you acquire an Elite Hero for the first time. The previously acquired & ascended Heroes also count.
Similar to Resonating Crystal, the level cap is based on the number of Heroes you have in your bag.
Dura’s Virtues (Branches)
The Elder tree has 5 branches, which represent to 5 classes in AFK Arena: Tank, Warrior, Ranger, Mage & Support. They are called the “Dura’s Virtues”
Similar to Signature Items, Dura’s Virtues give all of the Heroes in each class extra stats as well as special skills.
The Dura’s Virtues feature is unlocked after campaign Chapter 12. Players also need to upgrade the Elder Tree to level 15 in order to unlock this feature.
Leveling up a virtue will increase the stats of all Heroes in that specific class. Players can level up each Dura’s Virtue branch by using the Twisted Essence.
New skills unlocked at virtue levels 5, 15, and 25.
Dura’s Celerity (Ranger Heroes)
Available for: Fawkes, Thane, Gwyneth, Vurk, Tidus, Kaz, Lyca, Eironn, Ferael, Kelthur, Athalia.
| Name | Unlocks | Description |
| Impending Danger | Level 5 | When Heroes HP falls below 50% for the first time, increase their Dodge by 80 points & Haste by 10 points for 6 seconds. |
| Maim | Level 15 | After dealing damage to the enemies having less than 50%, heroes having this buff will be able to deal 40% extra damage to the target (cannot be dodged). This buff can only be activated once every 3 seconds. |
| Rapid Surge | Level 25 | Dealing damage to enemies 5 seconds before their death, the blessed Heroes will recover 4% of the max HP instantly, Haste increased by 80 points for 4 seconds. |
Dura’s Fortitude (Tank Heroes)
Available for: Lucius, Hendrik, Brutus, Skreg, Ulmus, Gorvo, Grezhul, Thoran, Arthur, Orthros.
| Name | Unlocks | Description |
| Clawback | Level 5 | When the HP of the Heroes falls below 30% for the first time, recover 2.5% of their max HP every second for 10s. |
| Sundering Slam | Level 15 | Heroes receiving this blessing unleashes a shockwave every time they lose 30% of the max HP. The shockwave deals an amount of AoE damage which equals 3% of the enemy max HP. Affected enemies lose 30 Haste points for 3 seconds. |
| Life Flash | Level 25 | Heroes recover an additional 9% of their max HP every time being healed by allies. The buff can only be triggered once every 11s. |
Dura’s Might (Warrior Heroes)
Available for: Estrilda, Rigby, Khasos, Warek, Antandra, Seirus, Nara, Baden, Izold, Zolrath, Wu Kong.
| Name | Unlocks | Description |
| Shattering Force | Level 5 | Heroes will be able to deal 180% additional damage against enemies using shields or HP barriers. Can be activated once every 11s |
| Shield of Fortitude | Level 15 | Heroes receive a shield that can take an amount of damage equal to 15% of their max HP for 3s whenever an enemy casts the Ultimate. Can only be triggered once every 16s. |
| Blood Thirst | Level 25 | Increase Life Leech by 14 points for 3s when the Heroes cast their Ultimates the first time. |
Dura’s Sorcery (Mage)
Available for: Belinda, Safiya, Satrana, Lorsan, Shemira, Isabella, Mehira, Skriath, Khazard.
| Name | Unlocks | Description |
| Astral Focus | Level 5 | Increase Heroes’ Attack Rating by 10% for 3s every time they cast their Ultimates. |
| Astral Tide | Level 15 | When the Heroes cast their Ultimate, all allies will recover 30 Energy immediately. If any Hero receives this effect multiple times within 10s, its effectiveness decreased by 60%. |
| Power Surge | Level 25 | Heroes recover 40 Energy when their HP falls under 30% for the first time, become immune to crowd control abilities for 1.5s |
Dura’s Sustenance (Support)
Available for Raine, Rowan, Rosaline, Numisu, Nemora, Tasi, Ezizh, Elijah & Lailah, Talene.
| Name | Unlocks | Description |
| Savior’s Gift | Level 5 | Give the most injured ally a protective shield that can mitigate an amount of damage equal to 7x(own attack rating) for 220s when the Hero casts their Ultimate for the first time. |
| Life Kindle | Level 15 | When a Hero heals an ally, they will also heal the most injured ally for an amount of HP that equals 100 worth of the caster’s Attack Rating. Can only be triggered once every 10s for each Hero. |
| Defiance | Level 25 | Recover 60 Energy Points after the first 15s of the battle and make heroes immune to CC for 1.5s. |
