Darts to Rana, Malosi, Leo... or wait?

[sleepyhead]

So RNG has been incredibly kind to me, giving me 2 sets of Darts from Mystic Vision in the past 2 weeks… and today, a regular monster chest gave me the 6th set I need to ascend my 3rd Yellow!

So, because I have two great candidates in Rana and Malosi, I’m eager to wave the ascension wand now. But, I want to get the collective wisdom from the forums. I also have the mats to ascend a Purple (Sartana over Domitia) and a Blue (Isarnia over Richard), but for both colors I decided to wait. I’m collecting Valhalla coins, and am TRYING to wait to summon until all Valhalla heroes are released (though I caved and have done 1 a month so far). Planning a 10-pull for Atlantis in May to try for Wilbur. Tell myself I will save EHT for Christmas, but couldn’t get past Springvale…

BUT… just in case, what say you re:

1. Ascend Malosi
2. Ascend Rana
3. Ascend Leo (I do not seriously think this will be an option though)
4. or wait???

@voidstrike @Math4lyfe @IvyTheTerrible @Guvnor mind if I pick your brains?

**I am F2P. I gain enough ascension materials to ascend a new hero of a certain color, say, every 6 months (been playing 18 months, and have been able to get about 18 each of Rings / Tabards / Darts / Scopes in that time).

**Leveling: I do work on dupes of 4s for war depth. If I get a new unique 4, I drop any dupes i am leveling to work on that. 5s, I prioritize over dupe 4s and will raise to 3/70 if I cannot ascend immediately.

Priorities: War Defense (but Alliance has no tank color, we’re a tiny 3-man alliance), War/Raid Offense, Challenge Events.

I have no issues with the rest of the game content (finished Atlantis Hard, can do all Class Quests, Raid defense keeps me in Diamond). As for Titans, my tiny 3-man alliance only faces 4-star Titans with the occasional rare Titan, and we have accepted that we won’t get tougher ones unless we gain significantly more members OR move to another alliance. We’re happy as we are.

• War Defense: default defense (including Raids) is Joon-C / Seshat / Aegir / Gregorion / Marjana . Malosi will NOT replace Joon, as Joon hits harder and the blind will be useful vs. anyone, whereas Malosi’s special is wasted if it does not hit the right support/utility hero. Rana though, is sturdier and could probably flank Aegir so Seshat can move to wing. Verdict: Rana

• War / Raid Offense: I do mono or 3/2 depending on how strong my opponent is. Heavily-emblemed defenses get the mono treatment. I have not yet been able to stack mono-Yellow, but the additions of Lady Woolerton and Rana/Malosi to my roster should allow that. I think Malosi has more synergy with my main Yellows, Inari / Li Xiu / Joon / Lady W (the strategy will be to dodge / blind / prevent bad status / heal / mana cut to stall for the right moment, while murdering the enemies with high tile damage). And Malosi > Rana for facing Kunchen, Boss Wolf and Ursena (+ Telly) tanks, I think. Rana, though, helps more in field aid wars of course. Verdict: Malosi

• Challenge Events. I don’t think either will particularly help here. Still, I usually place top 10000 Rare, top 5000 Epic, and top 10000 Legendary. Verdict: tie.

My Yellow Squad (I generally do same-color feeding):

• Inari +3
• Joon (and costume) +3
• Li Xiu (and costume) +15
• Rana 3/70
• Malosi 1/1
• Leonidas 3/70
• Chao +3
• Hu Tao +1
• Wu Kong +1
• Lady Woolerton 3/51 (current project, will take to 4/70 before ascending my next Yellow 5*)
• Dupe Li Xiu + costume 4/70
• Dupe Chao 3/35, paused
• Dupe Lady W 1/1

*Family photo in next post

For those who prefer to read, here’s a list of my 4s and 5s:

1. Purple:

• Seshat +6
• Aeron +2
• Proteus +19
• 2nd Proteus +6
• Sabina +20
• Domitia 3/70
• Sartana 3/70 (will ascend over Domi, but waiting to see if I pull Clarissa)
• Cyprian +1
• Tiburtus +6 (and costume)
• 2nd Sabina +5
• Rigard +14
• 2nd Tibs 4/9 (current project)
  *2nd Rigs 3/60 (decided to do 2nd Tibs first, as I have 4 Purple healers but not enough Purple hitters)
• 3rd Sabina and Rigs both 1/1, keeping just in case

2. Red

• Marjana +6
• Elena 1/45 (current project, will fast-track to ascension as I have 12 Rings)
• 2nd Elena 1/1 (will probably not ascend, but still keeping as 5*s are rare, dang-it!)
• Sir Lancelot +15
• Boldtusk (and costume) +15
• Gormek +9
• Scarlett +11
• 2nd Boldtusk +1
• Colen +2
• Kelile +1
• 2nd Scarlett 4/70
• 2nd Gormek 4/48 (paused to work on Elena)

3. Blue

• Lepus +4
• Aegir +6
• Isarnia 3/70 (will ascend over Richard, but waiting at least until June, to see how my summoning luck goes)
• Richard 2/60
• Kiril +11
• Grimm +13
• Triton +7
• Sonya (and costume) +15
• Valeria +5
• Boril 3/60 (probably will not ascend)
• Agwe 3/60 (probably will not ascend)
• Dupe Sonya 4/70, and costume at 4/41
• Dupes of Grimm and Valeria, will work on Grimm after Dupe Sonya, then Valeria

4. Green

• Margaret +1 (yes, yes, I know, but she was the very first 5* I ascended… and does help a lot on offense!)
• Gregorion +3
• Kadilen 3/70 (will ascend over Elkanen if it comes to it)
• Elkanen 1/39 (next after I finish Skittles’ costume)
• Skittleskull +6 (and costume at 4/69)
• Jack O’Hare +9
• Melendor (and costume) +9
• Gadeirus +3
• Caedmon +9
• Little John +11
• Dupe Melendor +1
• Kashhrek 3/60 (probably will not ascend)
• Gobbler 3/60 (probably will not ascend)
• Dupes of Jack, Caedmon and LJ at 1/1, Dupe Caedmon is probably next after Skittles as I lack Green snipers

thanks in advance

[sleepyhead]

[BubblesUK]

I’d do Rana, she’s excellent.

Malosi is useful, but slightly luxury too… Which do you prefer playing with?

[Maaeetz]

I didnt read the wall of text. Malosi is my choice as speed matters more than ever atm

[Bukefal]

I would go with Rana she is so good and in my defense. Here is she in best light, hope this helps. Sand attacks can’t be cleansed in 2 turns by healers or dispeller.

I highly recommend this hero and use it every where. Mostly use here in left flank in defense, or wing if I go in 3-1-1 offense.

[sleepyhead]

thanks. Malosi is still at 1/1, so haven’t tried him out much yet except for the world map. Rana has only come out for the world map, low level quests and the occasional late war flag. So far, I prefer Rana, but I would like to test Malosi out more before I decide. Especially as I’ve been bringing Rana out against weak opponents who can’t do much back (i.e. no scary buffs or debuffs).

[Leonidas1]

I would do Malosi. Joon-costume is great on defense and Malosi will greatly help your attack team. He blocks an enemy from casting ailments, which is key when facing Telluria or Kunchen

[sleepyhead]

+18 Rana looks great! quite sturdy, too. I do like the DOT, hit 3 and heal block…

[sleepyhead]

thanks, was thinking that too - and lots of Ursena, Kunchen and Telly tanks out there.

[voidstrike]

I agree with your assessment on where each hero’s strengths lie (Rana in defense, Malosi on offense and neither better/worse than the other in challenge events).

So then my belief tends to be that Defenses are designed to lose (attack team gets to select team composition, attacking strategies, tile manipulation, etc.) so I tend to level based on attacking usage whether in PvE, Raids or War (e.g. with my first set of darts I leveled and maxed Guinevere over Drake and while Guin held down my tank spot until Telly, I always enjoyed PvE and Raid attacks less because I didn’t ascend Drake at the time and he was stuck at 3-70 for so long).

Exposition to say I would lean Malosi.

[sleepyhead]

Thanks! I’m also of the though that a good-enough (keeps me in Diamond overnight) defense is OK. So, leaning towards Malosi indeed as I feel he will synergize better with my core Yellows (Joon, Lady W, Li and Inari) on offense.

[OG-Pusha]

I’d personally go Malosi, all day and tomorrow.
He’s very fast and punch out some of the effects from ever present Telluria tanks and vela/gm flanks.

[BubblesUK]

It depends how you read things…

A lot of the common defences at the moment favour healing or heal over time - Rana reduces that healing and puts a DoT on top… If you’re attacking with DoT of your own, this could massively tip the scales your way.

Malosi on the other hand could stop that heal over time from getting started, but it won’t do anything to good old fashioned instant heals.

They’re both good attacking hero’s… If you’re not in a hurry then get Malosi to 3.70 and compare how you like them - at the same time, I’d also consider that he’s probably more usable at that level as he’s not really much of a damage dealer.

[Guvnor]

Wall of text will circle back

[OG-Pusha]

This is a pretty good point.
You won’t regret (at least I dont think you will) ascending either, so it boils down to how you see the utilization of either hero unfolding.
I’m still sticking with Malosi bc with a little level 11 mana troop he is a 6 tile kinda guy, and I really like that

[Guvnor]

@sleepyhead

• Ascend Malosi
• Ascend Rana

Ok for me it’s between these two options… Bearing in mind that the following is all MY OPINION so yeah…

Malosi
The main thing going for Malosi is his speed… At Very Fast the charge time is 6 tiles (with lvl 11 mana troop) vs Rana at Average (10 tiles).

His primary purpose is the Buff Silence part of his effect… if you’re looking for a sniper there are way better options (you already have the best yellow in Costume Joon). In the Silence Role, hes pretty good… As a sniper hes just ■■■■…

For me, the biggest disappointment is that he is affect 1 only… Affecting only 1 hero you have to be VERY selective & careful in when you trigger him & how you then play your next tiles (you want to ONLY trigger the target, not flanks/ wings too…)

Rana
Healing Debuff is killer in Field Aid Alliance Wars. Basically reduces the impact of not just hero healing but also the war rule too.

On top of that she has pretty decent all-round stats (attack & defence & HP); somewhat rounded. She also does Direct Damage to 3 & applies the DoT to 3. This DoT is unique to ONLY the sand empire heroes & as such stacks with all other forms of DoT (e.g. Vela, Clarissa, JF/GM etc…)

For me, this is the biggest two points… The DoT & the fact she affects 3 enemies.

Emblems
Both are different classes so have different things to consider. Monk emblems are (or should) be heading to Joon.
Barbarian emblems tho don’t seem to yet have a 5* home… so that could be a consideration…

Personally
If it were me personally, I would pick Rana over Malosi. I like the fact that she affects 3. She also has a nice “self cleanse”.

I personally have malosi but am yet to see any need to ascend him… I have yet to face an alliance which runs (universally or close to it) high emblemed tanks in Alliance Wars… So far the most I’ve seen is 12/30 which is relatively easy to deal with as an alliance (only need to hit them once, maybe twice each for 3x Board Flips)…

In regular raiding I deal with Telluria in other ways, admittedly Grazul is a big part of that so temper my take with that in mind.

Worth noting I have Rana at 4/80 & use her in most alliance wars & in every Purple Titan hit. I also have 2x Malosi, both at 1-1 & plan on ascending Sir Roostly before either one

[Math4lyfe]

Hmm. Guess I’m gonna say wait until your AR pull before deciding. Poseidon would get my vote over both malosi and rana.

I’m wondering how a li x2 +rana team would do… you’ll have the costume bonus, so you only need a level 5 mana troop for those two… that would probably buy enough time with their mana cuts to charge rana.

[sleepyhead]

thanks everyone, some real good insights here It’s a testament to the quality of both heroes - and to the quality of the player insights - that it’s so tough to decide!

@OG-Pusha yeah, the Very Fast speed attracted me too!

@BubblesUK true, great point re instant heal. and my Joon and Inari can help my team avoid debuffs and other negative status from the enemy, so there’s a bit of overlap with what Malosi does. but none of my other Yellows can do Rana’s DOT or heal block…

@Guvnor thanks for pointing out the affect-1 vs. affect-3 aspect. yeah, I’m worried about bringing Malosi to a JF-Telly-Vela fight, and he blocks Telly only to get murdered by JF and Vela… my normal Telly strategy is to bring Proteus, Rigard and 3 Reds and pray for a good starting board lol

@Math4lyfe thanks! Lix2 and Rana sound good! Maybe throw in Joon (the blind helps stall, if the enemy doesn’t get murdered outright) and Lady Woolerton as a backstop… Inari helps too, but she’s same speed as Rana . Agree re Poseidon, though, he would be amazing.

[IvyTheTerrible]

There are already a lot of good thoughts here. I was going to hit a few points that Guvnor covered well. The first thing I noticed was the emblems as well - so a win for Malosi there, as you can stop Grimm / Gormek / Little John, with Joon grabbing the Monk emblems.

The next thing I noticed was the mana troop: good enough to shave Malosi to 6 tiles, but a ways before you can move Rana / Leo to 9. So another win for Malosi.

That said, I think Rana is probably the better hero in general, so a win (and a big one) for her there. I’d say the reports are already in on her and she’s solid. Malosi…I don’t know. I’m not convinced he’s powerful enough yet and haven’t seen much that changes my mind. Right now he looks like a decent hero, but limited (due to his only affecting one in a META where multiple ailment dealers are exceedingly common). I covet Rana but I I don’t have direct experience with either.

Leonidas is (imo) better than he gets credit for. I like him a lot and during my pre-Jackal era he was very effective with Li Xiu in beating Kunchen tanks. I don’t know that I’d ascend him over the other two, but definitely keep him in mind.

Ultimately I’d probably go Rana, regarding her as a safer, more known commodity. Malosi may appreciate in value, but I’d kind of need to see it happen first, I think.

[sleepyhead]

thanks, I appreciate your breaking down the pros and cons! (and boy, am I glad I didn’t crop out the mana troop in my family picture ) really good point about the multiple ailment dealers, which others have also mentioned… if I had Vivica, I probably would just go with Rana as Vivica can cleanse what Malosi prevents - but does it for all. ah well.