Starting in June of 2017, Empires& Puzzles began to offer a special Hero of the Month (HoTM). They are always a 5. hero and are often especially valuable, even compared to other 5.s. The current HotM is only available via Summon for one month. Unlike regular 5. heroes, you cannot obtain a HoTM through a training camp at TC20. ⦁ Holy (yellow) and Dark (purple) Heroes are strong against each other, but weak against their own Element. The damage done by your troops is greatly affected by the Elemental affinities. Especially in PVP, it can make a huge difference if your combo hits an enemy who’s at disadvantage – you’ll deal double damage on each hit. This is a list of each Hero of the Month - HOTM - in Empires & Puzzles, since Hel was first released in June 2017. I've also included a ranking each HOTM with a preliminary grade. If I made any clear errors or omitted any of the HOTMs, let me know.
EMPIRES & PUZZLES: Hero Utility - Grading Scale
What is this?
The Hero Utility is a complete set of 7 evaluation/valuation methods, wrapped up into a pleasing and organized visual with its primary purpose being to SUPPORT YOU IN HERO DECISIONING. Not just for ascensions, in a multitude of ways that a spreadsheet and/or the game NEVER will.
How to use this Utility
This is a decision support utility not a yes/no answer FAQ. The makeup of any given team and their specials can affect the value of your hero. Every hero in the game has a purpose. Some are obvious, some are not. Some are widespread others very niche (certainly we hope for the prior). Do not decide solely on this utility, in particular just 1 of its valuation methods! To be valid, use all methods of valuation available to you. Should ALL methods clearly point to one hero over another, then do listen loudly.
The methods of value/evaluation are:
1) RaZors EDge2 (FACTUAL card ranks that are reprocessed each hero addition and 'balancing')
2) Ap/Dh (a correlation algorithm that simulates a more 'realistic' card ranking)
3) Letter Grades (A+, A, B, C, D – courtesy of Anchor)
4) GPA Wraps (I wrap grades into measurable values for comparing)
5) Raid Tournaments (A+, A, B, C, D – courtesy of Anchor)
6) Current Leaderboard (data collected from the game recently, strongly indicating CURRENT HERO USE)
7) Cumulative Leaderboard (data stored and summarized from the game over time HISTORICAL HERO USE)
2) Ap/Dh (a correlation algorithm that simulates a more 'realistic' card ranking)
3) Letter Grades (A+, A, B, C, D – courtesy of Anchor)
4) GPA Wraps (I wrap grades into measurable values for comparing)
5) Raid Tournaments (A+, A, B, C, D – courtesy of Anchor)
6) Current Leaderboard (data collected from the game recently, strongly indicating CURRENT HERO USE)
7) Cumulative Leaderboard (data stored and summarized from the game over time HISTORICAL HERO USE)
![Empires and puzzles for pc Empires and puzzles for pc](https://empirespuzzlesboss.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/best-heroes-in-empires-and-puzzles.jpg)
This web-based application interfaces with a data warehouse established July 30, 2018 by RaZoR a fellow player of E&P that has no affiliation to the game maker.
Why was this created?
Well, not having actual play experience with the Hero’s owned at future ascension/levels - decisioning was questionable especially making some poor ones previously. Heroes can be great early and not so great later (or the opposite), or simply I misread what their potential was - that was the problem I wanted to avoid being I really had 1 shot with my ‘final’ decision and then I’m stuck for many months or longer to make an adjustment. Finding documented ranks or grades from those ahead of me based in their own hero use experience was what I was hoping to find to aide my decisioning. My gratitude extends to Anchor for assembling and maintaining the Anchors Guide to Hero Grades. As an independent player finding this guide was a relief! Unfortunately for me being from the USA grades have associated numerical ranges that I just couldn’t look past. When I saw a relatively equal B vs B or A vs B I found myself questioning does my A hero = 90% and my B hero = 89% with all else being basically the same? If it is, B saves me XYZ, so I would lean toward B! Understand I was truly playing by myself. I gave answers as the Alliance leader, not ask them. I got it done on my own (so it got done), and when I wanted it – I wanted it NOW. The worst thing for a player like that - basically ZERO documentation provided by the game maker. Thus, the journey, supported by my IT background allowed me to bring it to market for my fellow players to consult with before final decisioning. To do it successfully however, I had to change one thing about the way I played and approached the game: everything.
Again – all methods of value/eval need to be used together… I think many just decide on seeing the overall ‘Grade’ and move on – not a sound idea. I do not modify Anchor's grades to meet valuations based on my experience or when I may disagree with assessment, that is not my place. The grades are Anchor’s data. I’m borrowing the grades and in exchange referring you back to the source as requested (his document is a living document; therefore, it will always be updated before the Hero Utility). Many players like Anchor's grades and them being part of the H.U. and I support my users and Anchor in his efforts in maintaining it.
In closing. Some players I’m aware of have made decisions based on the following: https://coolcfiles990.weebly.com/3d-architecture-software-full-version.html.
1) He looks cool and his Attack is higher than that hero…
2) If I didn’t use her in the event, I wouldn’t have gotten that score…
3) I've been waiting forever for a nature hero so now I can make my rainbow team.
Guys if your decisioning logic is like the above than please at least look at the overall GRADE!
- RaZoR
1) He looks cool and his Attack is higher than that hero…
2) If I didn’t use her in the event, I wouldn’t have gotten that score…
3) I've been waiting forever for a nature hero so now I can make my rainbow team.
Guys if your decisioning logic is like the above than please at least look at the overall GRADE!
- RaZoR
Hero Grading Definition
Empires And Puzzles Heroes List Excel
To add further value to Hero Grading in the Hero Utility - we are using the common USA based 4.0 Grading system.
We have extended it to include the unique A+ grade that has been applied to Heroes by 7DD. This A+ will be allotted 4.3 GPA points during calculations.
For example: Titan Team has 5 Sub-Categories used to make up the Titan Team 'Overall Grade'. This appears as vsTitan in the Hero Utility. These include Stamina, Passive, Direct, Tiles, and Versus.
Our algorithm simply sums all the Sub-Category GPA's and then divides them by the number of Sub-Categories.
For example using an A+ hero: Kunchen (A+, A+, D, C, A)
(4.3 + 4.3 + 1 + 2 + 4)/5 = 3.12 Overall GPA
Another example using: Ares (A, B, D, C, A)
(4 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 4)/5 = 2.80 Overall GPA
This method gives us a better understanding of how strong of an A, B or C the Hero is (or at least an alternative view of value).
RAZOR's EDge2 (Click image for introduction)
Introduction to: RaZoR'sEDge2
StatisticallySpeaking.
Rolling'FORWARD'vs.'WITH'the Rank
Rank within Rarity Added
Hero Ranking Definition (LEADERBOARD)
– CURRENT LEADERBOARD – the data from the most recent data collection
– CUMULATIVE LEADERBOARD – a summary of all data collections
These are represented in the Hero Utility as the following:
– COUNT (column 1) –
Appear (Summing all positions together)
@Tank (standalone position)
@Flank (summing the flank positions left and right)
@Wing (summing wing positions left and right)
– RANK (column 2) –
A process was developed to provide LEADERBOARD Rankings to each Hero who made at least 1 appearance in the data extraction. It results in a larger scale of diversity in the Output as opposed to limiting it to the Top 5 or 10. Unique data and reports are generated each period by Razor including the PERIOD IN REVIEW which shocases the use rankings of the heroes, the true-positiong report, the tank report and the Hero Position ✧ Element ✧ Talent report summarizing the entire pool of heroes that was collected. Amongst other data.
Where does the data come from? Members of the TMUG/TMPG take a snapshot of the Top 100 LEADERBOARD Teams using a horizon line between #7-28 at random intervals collecting the player, alliance, trophies, leaderboard rank, each of the 5 heroes in proper positions (left wing, left flank, tank, right flank, right wing) as well the associated class level for each hero 0-20. This data is stored realtime and timestamped in the TM Data Warehouse and accumulates for approximately a months time. Current collections include 1,000 instances generating a pool of 5,000 heroes for examination.
The LEADERBOARD Rankings use the ROLLING 'FORWARD' THE RANK method.
What is the Rolling Forward The Rank Method? Check out Rolling'FORWARD'vs.'WITH'the Rank. See why here: LEADERBOARD RANKING METHOD.
I'm very pleased that this data sampling process has proven to work! Current collections consist of over 70+ individuals. No player can collect themselves (such records are deleted). No player collected is counted more than one time on any given day, deleting all instances except the highest trophies for that day.
Over–time, some-times quickly, some-times slowly there is a shift of Hero usage/popularity and it will be evident by witnessing a change in the '– CURRENT LEADERBOARD –' section of the output.
Special Notes for Newer Players (Anyone without a 4* team could do well to read this - otherwise feel free to skip)
This is a off the top of my head summary. It is not entirely complete by any means however will help you avoid a ton of mistakes that I made playing the game 'alone'.
If you can avoid leveling your 1- and 2-star Heroes when starting, do! They are food! They really have no value in the game (and zero ROI from leveling - none of them do actually - I've tested every way I could).
Stick with your Bane and wait till you get another 3 star, then level them. Keep one of your training camps at level 2 initially (and use training levels 1 and 2 at that camp respectively based on materials). Your level 2 camp gives you a 50% chance of spawning a uncommon/2*! Given the option always feed your hero's the same element/color. It gives you a 16.7% better return. 1* same element 180HP, 2* same element 468HP. 1* off element 150HP. 2* off element 390HP. As you ascend, cost increases with resources. At the later levels of ascension 3, try sticking to only feeding 2*'s. At ascension 4 (4 and 5* hero's) try to stay to 2*'s due to cost, a 1* should be left to the newer heroes in your inventory.
As soon as you receive your 2nd training camp SPEED upgrade it to LVL 10 where it will guarantee generation of you next Rare/3* hero. Your stronghold will need to grow to support that level however (and you will bring up the rear with your other producing buildings). Honestly you will likely obtain one before you get it to 10, we hope! Possibly even all of them. It's best to keep 1 camp way ahead of the others as lvl 20 gives you a chance at a Legendary/5* hero. I would suggest putting the least amount of focus and priority on your Forges, you can succeed and move forward without battle items more so than keeping 2*'s in your team!
Do NOT feed 3, 4 or 5 star heroes to any other hero UNTIL you have 30 4 and 5* heroes, then you can feed the 3's if there is no use in having them. Until you have 30 5* heroes, best to not feed the 4*'s unless you are over-run (more than 30+ then maybe).
Do NOT feed your fully ascended 3-5* heroes EVER! The cost to get them there will Never be returned via the game as I already mentioned. The 3 and 4's can be used for Rare and Epic Challenge events at a minimum indefinitely.
If you can avoid leveling your 1- and 2-star Heroes when starting, do! They are food! They really have no value in the game (and zero ROI from leveling - none of them do actually - I've tested every way I could).
Stick with your Bane and wait till you get another 3 star, then level them. Keep one of your training camps at level 2 initially (and use training levels 1 and 2 at that camp respectively based on materials). Your level 2 camp gives you a 50% chance of spawning a uncommon/2*! Given the option always feed your hero's the same element/color. It gives you a 16.7% better return. 1* same element 180HP, 2* same element 468HP. 1* off element 150HP. 2* off element 390HP. As you ascend, cost increases with resources. At the later levels of ascension 3, try sticking to only feeding 2*'s. At ascension 4 (4 and 5* hero's) try to stay to 2*'s due to cost, a 1* should be left to the newer heroes in your inventory.
As soon as you receive your 2nd training camp SPEED upgrade it to LVL 10 where it will guarantee generation of you next Rare/3* hero. Your stronghold will need to grow to support that level however (and you will bring up the rear with your other producing buildings). Honestly you will likely obtain one before you get it to 10, we hope! Possibly even all of them. It's best to keep 1 camp way ahead of the others as lvl 20 gives you a chance at a Legendary/5* hero. I would suggest putting the least amount of focus and priority on your Forges, you can succeed and move forward without battle items more so than keeping 2*'s in your team!
Do NOT feed 3, 4 or 5 star heroes to any other hero UNTIL you have 30 4 and 5* heroes, then you can feed the 3's if there is no use in having them. Until you have 30 5* heroes, best to not feed the 4*'s unless you are over-run (more than 30+ then maybe).
Do NOT feed your fully ascended 3-5* heroes EVER! The cost to get them there will Never be returned via the game as I already mentioned. The 3 and 4's can be used for Rare and Epic Challenge events at a minimum indefinitely.
I would recommend the following FAQS should you be interested:
THE ‘DEFENSE TEAM’ MISCONCEPTION
THE ‘DEFENSE TEAM’ MISCONCEPTION
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Cracking the mobile market is a Herculean task, especially if you are entering one of the most crowded genres. Countless studios attempt to replicate the success of King, Supercell, Rovio et al, but very few come close to achieving this.
There are, of course, exceptions. One such studio that has been making waves is Finnish outfit Small Giant Games, the developer behind the increasingly popular Empires & Puzzles. While seemingly yet another take on the widely used match-three mechanic, the game's focus on RPG systems and Small Giant's determined approach to marketing has seen the title thrive in an extremely hostile market. Shinobi life codes 2019 list.
When we meet at Casual Connect London, CEO and co-founder Timo Soininen tells us Empire & Puzzles stands at 1.2 million daily active users, three million monthly active users and 15 million downloads - plus it won the Best Breakthrough Hit award at this year's Google I/O. All solid accomplishments, not only for a 14-month-old game but also for such a small team.
'When we built Empire and Puzzles back in 2016, we were just a team of 12,' Soininen tells us. 'It must be some sort of record that such a small team created such a big game like that in 11 months from scratch. We were really driven, and we did a little outsourcing, but it's a really remarkable achievement.
'Since then we are now big, by our standards. 35 people, all in Helsinki with 10 nationalities. There's a mixture of young talent, and then us veterans and dinosaurs.'
![Empire And Puzzles Heroes List Empire And Puzzles Heroes List](https://sites.google.com/site/empiresandpuzzlesrpgwiki/_/rsrc/1534008488691/intro/challenge-events/corellia%20event%20rewards.jpg)
Soininen also reports Small Giant achieved profitability by November 2017, and has never made a loss on user acquisition. This is in part due to the effort poured into performance marketing, with plans to do $80 million in marketing this year.
Empires And Puzzles Best Heroes To Have
The firm's success has attracted the interest of several investors, most recently completing a $41 million round of funding at the beginning of February. Soininen tells us the studio has reached $130 million revenue run rate in just 12 months from launch and still feels 'we've only just scratched the surface.'
'A large part of that [$41m] investment was actually secondary purchases from all Small Giant team members, so we were able to sell our shares to investors, and part of that money went into our warchest,' the CEO explains.
'We were already profitable at the end of last year so we didn't really need that much money. There was a point in time where investors wanted to increase their share, it was good for them and good for us, so we're now able to focus on building on great things for many years to come.'
So why is it Empires & Puzzles has succeeded where so many others have struggled? Match-three games are hardly rare, nor are titles that mix the mechanic with RPG systems or collectible characters.
Soininen points to a number of fresh twists Small Giant has brought to the genre. Most notably, the need for aiming; in most match-three RPGs, matching coloured gems triggers an attack from the relevant character that deals damage to a selected target or all enemies. In Empires & Puzzles, matching gems actually unleashes miniature troopers from that position, meaning only enemies directly above the match are harmed.
The game also boasts a base-building system similar to the likes of Game of War, as well as various modes you'd expect from a strategy game, such as alliances, PvP and this year's Alliance Wars mode. More importantly, the studio has placed a great deal of emphasis on its onboarding process.
'We made the game extremely approachable,' Soininen says. 'Most of the midcore RPGs are playing the zero sum game on a relatively limited audience - in fact, if you launch a new game you're going to have to steal players from the other games, which is difficult and expensive.
'We wanted to make a game that is so accessible and welcoming. Our tutorial is probably one of the longest tutorials out there, which is very counter-intuitive according to so-called industry experts. But we tested everything vigourously, and it gave us the confidence that this was the right way to do it. Mediashout keygen.
'I think the whole appeal of Empires & Puzzles is it's an intro-level RPG. We've kept the threshold really low, while having the extremely deep meta and lots of gameplay modes if you do want to go deeper into our fantasy world. We've been able to convert a lot of players, existing RPG fans love it - it comes down to the differentiating aspect that is the gameplay.'
The longer tutorial alone shows the risks Small Giant has been willing to take to establish Empires & Puzzles as a hit. Given how much titles are vying for people's attention on smart devices, conventional wisdom pushes for developers to bring them into the game as soon as possible. Too much instruction, particularly for systems players have likely encountered in other titles, is likely to encourage deletion within the first few minutes.
'Most of the midcore RPGs are playing the zero sum game on a limited audience - if you launch a new game you have to steal players from the other games, which is difficult and expensive'
'Of course that was a worry, but we tested this so well,' Soininen explains. 'And I think it's all about storytelling, how we devise the flow and the fact it's all done in sequences. It's not one of those boring tutorials. Of course some people aren't going to like it, but our stickiness ratio has been really good so people must like it.
'You can have all kinds of theories in your head, but you rely on the numbers and testing. Sometimes for different games, different approaches work and it's important that you keep an open mind. As developers, we sometimes have this prefixed idea of what works and what doesn't, but you shouldn't have that. Try different things, especially if the numbers are telling you the prefixed approach is not working.
He continues: 'But it's also the combination of being really good at marketing. In today's world, even if you create the best possible game out there, it's not going to fly automatically. That's why you have to get all the bits and pieces right. The good news for us is we've only scratched the surface in terms of market penetration.'
It's a disheartening truth, particularly for smaller studios hoping that creativity and innovation will make up for a lack of marketing budget. Not every mobile start-up can hope to attract investors in the same way Small Giant has, not will they be able to build a 'warchest', as Soininen referred to it, in order to invest in user acquisition profitably.
'As developers, we sometimes have this prefixed idea of what works and what doesn't, but you shouldn't have that. Try different things, especially if the numbers are telling you the prefixed approach is not working'
'Well, we didn't have that marketing budget,' Soininen observes. 'We were literally in this predicament, we didn't have huge amounts of cash. We pretty much had to know very quickly whether the numbers were correct. If the numbers didn't add up in terms of retention and monetisation, we needed to kill this baby quickly so we still had one more shot. You have to be really on top of the numbers.'
Soininen encourages studios to essentially build a model for their marketing and try to find out which tactics and creatives work best. Testing different channels will show the sort of attention you can gain through things like Facebook. This, the CEO warns, does require spending a little money, but building this model is essential.
'You have to know your lifetime value vs acquisition cost: if you put a certain amount into user acquisition, this is the conversion rate, you need to know how quickly can you gain that amount from that cohort of users - there's a lead time, so you have to be patient,' he says. 'But this is what we did to build the model.
Angry samoans unboxed set zip. 'One of the most difficult areas was getting the creatives right, trying to master the Facebook algorithm and getting the whole system to work in an optimal way - it took us quite a long time before we got to a relatively good level, and that gave us the confidence that we knew we were on the right track. It probably took us six months to get to that level, and by that time the game was pretty much ready.'
Preparing the marketing model while the game is still in development is also essential to getting investors on board. When Small Giant raised $6 million in an early funding round, it used metrics and the business model it had prepared to demonstrate how well it could perform with more investment.
'You have to be brutally honest about things, you need to recognise that they need to be mastered,' Soininen warns. 'You have to paint a clear picture for investors. We said, 'we've got a good game, good metrics, we've scratched the surface here but this is the area we need money or help with'. When you tell that story, it makes you really credible, rather than spending your life trying to bullshit your way through, painting too pretty a picture.'
With Empires & Puzzles now established, Small Giant is ramping up work on its second game. While Soininen can't tell us anything about it, he does reveal the project is currently in early consumer testing and may be ready for a soft launch later this year.
However, he stresses that 90 per cent of the studio's efforts are still focused on the roadmap for its flagship game. The recently added Alliance Wars, for example, 'saw massive improvements in our KPIs' and the studio is keen to explore this further. Plus, new levels, new heroes and new gameplay modes are all in the works to keep those millions of players engaged as long as possible.
'We basically have a continuous flow of events, activities and quests to keep the game fresh,' he says. 'There's no reason why this game couldn't have a lifespan of five to eight years.'
It feels as though Empires & Puzzles could grow to become one of the bigger brands in mobile games, and this will bring the need for more resources at the studio. Despite this, Soininen is determined to keep the headcount low, staying true to the developers' smaller origins.
'In terms of headcount, we'll probably grow a little bit but the name Small Giant requires us to be small,' he says. 'It's more about making sure we are very efficient in everything we do. The danger is the more people you start hiring, the more there starts to be this communication overhead, which is not always healthy.
'We're big believers in having really small teams - we have an extremely small team running user acquisition, it's just a fraction of the teams you find at the larger companies.'