[May 1, 2019] 🔵 Trials of Strength Guide & Teams – Share Yours & Discuss!

[zephyr1]

It’s time for Trials of Strength!

This is the 1st of the Trials in the 4th Cycle!

NOTE: The Trials officially start at 7:00:00 AM (07:00 GMT). This post is scheduled to go live 20 minutes earlier at 6:40:00 AM (06:40 GMT).

If you do not see the Class Trial in Quests as of 7:00:00 AM (07:00 GMT), force quitting and reopening the app or restarting your device will usually work.

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Overview

Classes	Bosses	Monsters
Fighters & Barbarians	Nashgar, Oberon, Azlar, and Elena	Red/Fire & Purple/Dark

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Final Boss HP

Version 20: Each Boss in Stage 3 has 4080 HP

History: Increased Difficulty of the Final Stage

Click for Archive of Version 19 vs. Version 20 Final Stage Difficulty

According to the Version 20 Release Notes, the Final Stage of Class Trials was made harder:

@EmpiresPuzzles

Final stages of Class Quests are now harder than before.

We’ve now been through a full cycle of the Trials since then, so we’ve seen those changes in action, particularly in Final Boss HP, where it’s most directly observable.

It’s also possible, however, that other adjustments were made to Defense or Attack, or to the monsters prior to the bosses.

Trials	v19 HP	v20 HP	Increase
Strength	3907	4080	173
Fortitude	4195	4195	0
Mysticism	4051	4396	345
Serenity	3907	3907	0
Survival	3619	3907	288
Piety	4195	4195	0
Decimation	4051	4339	288
Nature	3763	4051	288
Shadows	3763	3907	144
Justice	3763	4051	288

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Carpet Bombing/Item Nuking

For many players who can get through the monsters to the Final Bosses, but struggle to beat the Final Bosses, carpet bombing/item nuking the Bosses is a viable strategy.

Click for Guide to Carpet Bombing/Item Nuking for Trials of Strength

If you plan on carpet bombing/item nuking, focus on surviving until the Bosses, and don’t worry too much about counteracting them, particularly if you’re going for a full nuke them from orbit approach.
Use your item slots for your attack items, and any remaining slots for health.

Battle Item Damage Reference

Battle Item	Forge Level	Direct Damage	Max DoT	Max Total
Dragon Attack	16	400	132 (requires playing 6 turns between each attack)	532
Bomb	12	300	0	300
Axe	8	200	0	200
Arrow	4	100	0	100

Carpet Bombing/Item Nuking Strategies

Strategy	Direct Damage	Additional Damage Required for Stage 3 Bosses
5x + 5x + 3x	4100	0
5x + 5x + 5x	4000	80
5x + 5x	3500	580
5x + 5x	3000	1080
5x +	2500	1580
5x	2000	2080
5x + 5x + 5x	3000	1080
5x + 5x	2500	1580
5x + 5x	2000	2080
5x	1500	2580
5x + 5x	1500	2580
5x	1000	3080
5x	500	3580

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Additional Recommended Items

Click for Additional Recommended Items

Stage(s)	Item	Explanation
All	Antidotes	Trials of Strength is full of DoT (damage over time) effects: Oberon in Stages 1 and 2, Nashgar in Stages 1 and 3, and Azlar in Stages 2 and 3 all cast them — all of which can make Antidotes useful.
All	Health Pots	The Fighter and Barbarian Classes are relatively light on healers, though Fighter Boldtusk and Fighter Delilah are excellent choices. Healing pots are always a smart choice, but if you lack a healer option they may be an outright necessity.
All	Mana Pots	If you do have a healer option, mana pots can be useful to top up your healer when needed. Be mindful that all forms of mana pots can be difficult to sustain production of with frequent usage.
All	Time Stops	Time Stops can be an effective, albeit resource-expensive, way of preventing Bosses from firing, and providing you more opportunities to manage the board to charge specials and do damage. Be mindful that Dragon Bone can be difficult to come by to make this a sustainable approach.
All	Banners	Banners are always a good option for increasing defense and/or attack.
All	Revive or Miracle Scrolls	Revive or Miracle Scrolls can be an effective option if your team is on the weaker side, and the little extra boost will get your through. Be mindful that Midnight Root, Orichalcum Nugget, and Meteor Fragments can be difficult to come by to make this a sustainable approach.

A helpful reminder from @Gryphonknight:

@Gryphonknight

People, use your forge now, so you are not rushing this Sunday ( Gryphonknight scurries off to follow his own advice ).

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Guides

@Mariamne’s excellent overview of the Trials of Strength

Click for Mariamne's Guide

@Mariamne

If you need it, @Mariamne’s full guide to the Trials and Hero Classes is here.

@madmarv’s Video Tutorial Using Classic 4* Heroes If Possible

Click for madmarv's Video Tutorial

@madmarv has been doing a video tutorial series for each Trial, attempting to use only classic 4* heroes if possible.

[Mar 27, 2019] 🔵 Trials of Strength Teams – Share Yours & Discuss! - #18 by madmarv

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Polls

How did you do last time on Trials of Strength?

• Last time I beat all 3 stages
• Last time I beat just the first 2 stages
• Last time I beat just the first stage
• Last time I wasn’t playing yet, or was unable to beat any stages
• Last time…I’m not sure, they’re all a blur

How did you do this time on Trials of Strength?

• This time I beat all 3 stages
• This time I beat just the first 2 stages
• This time I beat just the first stage
• This time I couldn’t beat any of the stages

Did you need to use a lot of items this time on Trials of Strength?

(hat tip to @JAWS_3D for this question)

• Yeah, I nuked the bosses from space. Ripley would approve.
• I used some items to finish off the bosses, but it wasn’t the full arsenal
• I used support items like mana, banners, healing, and maybe a battle item or two, but nothing too crazy
• I just used some minor items, like healing, mana, or antidotes
• I didn’t use any items

Overall, how do you feel about Trials of Strength?

(hat tip to @Rapisu for inspiring this question)

• I love all the Trials equally
• It’s definitely my FAVORITE of the Trials
• I like it more than many of the Trials
• It’s about average for me
• I dislike it more than many of the Trials
• It’s definitely my LEAST FAVORITE of the Trials
• I hate all of the Trials, give me my Emblems and let me get back to farming

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Share Your Team & Results!

Post your team in a comment down below, and how you did!

Special Questions for Trials of Strength

• Fighter Boldtusk and Fighter Delilah are excellent healer options, but of course not everyone has them. Do you have one of them available, and did you bring them along? If not, how did you manage the lack of healers?

• The Barbarian and Fighter Classes have some big hitters — the “Strength” name for these Trials is no surprise. Did you find it helped to have some strong attackers for your team?

Standard Questions for All Trials

• Did your team change notably since last time?

• Did changes to your team make the Trials any easier or harder?

• What items did you use, if any?

• What are you doing with your shiny new Emblems?

• If you beat Stage 3, who’s eating the 3* Trainer Hero?

• Anything else interesting to share?

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You may also be interested in these older threads from previous times Trials of Strength occurred:

• [Mar 27, 2019] 🔵 Trials of Strength Teams – Share Yours & Discuss!
• [Feb 20, 2019] Trials of Strength Teams – Share Yours & Discuss!
• [Jan 16, 2019] Trials of Strength - first impressions

[HarryDeB]

I will see how this bunch will get me through the trails.
Changes:
Finished Little John with the big belly from last time to now.
I hope I can manage last level without using too much items but guess will need some mana/healing pots on hardest level.

[MD-DC]

So I’m currently sleep deprived because it’s late for me, but I managed to get it done.

My team last time, emblem level unknown:

My team this time, I not only got a Guardian Panther since the last time but got her to the final ascension tier. Had to do a re-creation:

I tore through the trash mobs with minimum effort, and while my team did need to tank a lot of fire, other than Nashgar missing thanks to HuTao, it just required some healing and mana potions to keep them up. A dragon and bomb had been blown on a corner rock monster the previous stage due to having some gems I’d wanted to save, but other than two bombs to keep three bosses attack down, didn’t really need to blow the full arsenal as it were.

Trainer went to Ares, emblems got two nodes on Tusky. Probably not the best spent, but oh well.

[Radar1]

I love this trial, emblems for Grimm and BT, trainer for BT

[Stargasm]

Lordy, that was rough…

Team power was 3610, all heroes maxed except Misandra at 3^70. BT and Grimm were max +13 and +10, respectively.

I forgot to change my battle items and charged into the hard tier with only minor antidotes, minor mana pots, minor health pots, and arrows…

It was going well enough until Elena fired her special, then I had a heck of a time. At the very end, I had to use the rest of my minor antidotes to gain as much HP back for Grimm as possible before launching one final Ramming Pulverizer. As you can see, he held on by the skin of his teeth against Elena’s counterattack.

[zephyr1]

Awesome narrow victory!

[Starryeyedgryph]

Last 2 times.

This time.
I can actually pull together a rainbow team this time.
I expect to finish all 3 levels even though I don’t have any healers yet. My boldtusk will be getting maxed soon.
Last time i talked about getting Gretel leveled. I did that, but i also leveled Poseidon up stronger.

[Rapisu]

BT+10 (+11 now), Grimm+4, Kage+2, LJ and Azlar.
Still the same team from last time.

I used a single Antidote, but it was unnecessary because I finished them with a big combo in the next round.
Emblems are for BT and Kage. The red trainer is sitting on the bench while waiting for his doom. I only have green and blue heroes to train.

Got a level up, so that helped with doing shrikewood afterwards. Only have the last stage remaining

[LadyKingsblood]

I completed the 1st stage last time it came around, but I only had baby 2* heroes then… Was able to complete the first 2 stages just fine this time around with only 1 casualty each stage. I really wish they’d remove the Level 30 requirement on the last one… I wanna try to beat it!

Stage 1

Stage 2

[zephyr1]

My Team Last Time

@zephyr1

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My Team This Time

@zephyr1

By next time I’ll have a second maxed Grimm too.

And indeed I did!

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The Battle

Click for Battle Details

This was definitely one of the easiest ones for me.

The first 2 Stages were uneventful.

The 3rd Stage was straightforward too. As usual, the biggest challenge was Elena’s counterattack, but she fired late enough in the battle that it wasn’t too bad.

Having the extra Grimm really helped a lot on damage.

In the end, I used 2 antidotes to cure DoT from Nashgar and Azlar, and 10 minor healing to supplement the dual Boldtusks.

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Shiny New Emblems

After Stage 2, I was able to bump up both Grimm Prime and Boldtusk Prime a node each.

Click for Talent Tree & Stats Screenshots

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Fight Fire with Fire

Colen ate the Trainer Hero, and is now up to 4-39, making his way slowly to max.

Click for More on Colen

He’s destined for some future 4* Rush Attack Raid Tournament, and also got an outing today on a mono red team for Shrikewood just for fun.

He’s also on my rainbow farming team, and had been there at 3-60 for quite a while.

[Robkirky1]

Boldtusk has replaced Rudolph lol
And also have a 2nd 4* red troop

[KnifeWonder]

Last time team was:

A lot changed since, player 3 Boldtusk entered the game fully leveled and embed [9] and kicked out a dusty 3/60 Colen, while Gato made room for a 2/60 Magni [that can do pretty good if he manages to put his defense on and he’s only 5/8 with the special]. Troops were upgraded too, plus found my first 4* blue troop and Grimm was very happy with it.

This team is in beast mode, NO ITEMS USED, burn cant do me ish [poor Azlar didnt even see me coming].

[Gryphonknight]

@zephyr1

I still need to spend 75g to finish some class quests. Usually when I have bad luck on waves 1- 4, or when I am trying to save on Dragon Attacks ( my Dragon bones are getting really low ). I think another poll would be cool.

Example:

Click for example

Did you spend 75g to continue?

[poll type=multiple results=always min=1 max=7 public=true]

• Yes, I had bad RNG for waves 1-4
• Yes, I had bad RNG for Boss wave
• Yes, I was trying to save on battle items
• Yes, I was out of some battle items
• Yes, my roster needs the 75g continue to finish
• Yes, I accidentally used the wrong team
• No, but I need multiple attempts to finish
• No, but I needed 2 attempts, the first was with the wrong team
• No, I was able to finish for zero gems on my first attempt

[/ [poll ]

FIN

[yelnats_24]

@zephyr1

Fighter Boldtusk and Fighter Delilah are excellent healer options, but of course not everyone has them. Do you have one of them available, and did you bring them along? If not, how did you manage the lack of healers?

I bring Boldtusk.

@zephyr1

The Barbarian and Fighter Classes have some big hitters — the “Strength” name for these Trials is no surprise. Did you find it helped to have some strong attackers for your team?

I can trade carpet bombing items for healing potions thus saving rare materials [quote=“zephyr1, post:1, topic:104574”]
Did your team change notably since last time?
[/quote]

I use Colen 3/60 instead of maxed Azar.

Old team:

@yelnats_24

New team:

@zephyr1

What items did you use, if any?

Healing Potions x10, Super Healing Potions x4, Axe Attack x1, Bomb Attacks x2.

@zephyr1

What are you doing with your shiny new Emblems?

When they are maxed, Hu Tao will get one node but the rest of the fighter emblems go to Boldtusk. Barbarian emblems will go to Grimm.

@zephyr1

If you beat Stage 3, who’s eating the 3* Trainer Hero?

[Iorwerth]

My team was basically the same as last time, except Kage and Grimm 2 are now fully leveled, and the emblems have been moved to Kage. I could have brought Gretel, but given the end bosses are all red, I stuck with 2 Grimms. I also swapped out the carpet bombing mats for the “I can beat this” setup.

Unlike last time where minion damage forced me into the final battle too soon, I started with everyone except Delilah locked and loaded, and a blue diamond to boot.

I started with a bomb, but that wasn’t strictly necessary, as only Nashgar got his special off before going down. I finished it easily, thanks both to favorable boards, and a really good team for this event.

The emblems will go to Kage and Delilah, and the trainer will go to my next red 5* (probably QoH).

Edited to add: Thank you for making these threads @zephyr1, I appreciate the opportunity to review my progress last time and compare it to my most recent attempt. I also like seeing how my teams change over time.

[JAWS_3D]

Gretel was my new addition for this challenge and she was a HUGE help to fend off specials, major game changer for me:

Blue diamond ftw

I used a couple more Super Mana Pots that I had hoped to but my goal this time was to use as few battle items as I could. I wore down Azlar first and used Gretel to eliminate his special (which is where most of my mana pots went, rather than for healing). Dropped a dragon attack to finish off Azlar and Nashgar and then got to work on Elena. It was close but the team got there in the end.

Still hoarding all of my emblems for no good reason 257 fighter and 245 barbarian emblems

[Nash]

Bold, Grimm, Kage, Gretel, Bold. Cake walk. Went in full mana, unloaded on Nashgar. Forgot minor antidotes so Azlar hurt a bit but left with all alive albeit on fire at the time lol. Was able to keep a Boldtusk ready with heals and board was cooperative even without diamonds.

[Noble_Weasel]

@zephyr1

Fighter Boldtusk and Fighter Delilah are excellent healer options, but of course not everyone has them.

Yeah, thanks for this reminder that I still don’t have Boldtusk. He’s at the top of my most wanted list.

My team this time:

• Gormek+7
• Grimm 4^70
• Valen+15
• Gato 3^50
• Poseidon 2^55

This differs from last time only in the talents for Gormek and Valen, and I switched out Namahage for Poseidon for a little color variety, which was good, since I got terrible boards with lots of green and purple tiles and very few opportunities to clear them with diamonds. If yellows had also been misses, I probably wouldn’t have completed.

I really thought I finished this trial last time, but after just squeaking through the final stage this time, I know I didn’t. There is a lot to like about this team - multiple defense downs, lots of fast mana heroes, and a triple stack of blues against red bosses. The thing that is not to like is that three-star heroes just aren’t durable enough to play in this rarefied air.

I was out of small healing potions early in the fourth wave, and Grimm was dead before I even made it to the bosses. Accordingly, I unloaded my full arsenal of bombs and axes, and I tried to let my first dragon attack burn through. I also managed to fire the specials of all my living heroes at the beginning of the battle, choosing to focus on Elena; with all snipers and splashers and no dispellers, I couldn’t afford to let her fire that counterattack special. My item assault wiped her out, and left me in decent shape with Azlar and Nashgar. Even had a couple of blue matches right below them. Got worried when Azlar fired; it was curtains for Gato at that point, but Gormek (beefy emblem build) and Poseidon (with ~700 HP) both survived, and Zombie Valen rose from the dead with his revive talent. That was enough to finish the job with blue tiles and claim the emblems. Also don’ t remember seeing the Nashgar dialogue at the end before, so I know I didn’t finish this last time.

I took Gormek to +7 using emblems from an earlier stage, so the 8 from the final stage went into storage for talent number 8. I did bring Valen up two talents, though. He’s holding the emblems for any four-star fighter (I mentioned I’m waiting on Boldtusk, right?) or, if it comes to it, I’ll strip them off and give them to the Big Dog Daddy Poseidon if I get the mats to max him. Trainer hero went to my current red project, Kelile. Finally had to give her the blades since I didn’t have another four-star red (like Boldtusk).

Starting to feel like I’m making progress, as I’ve now finished the trials of strength, mysticism, survival, and shadows. Rogues, barbarians, and sorcerers, ftw!

[Olmor]

Close even with a nuke down of the bosses. My squishy dudes already had probs to stand the mobs. Grimm @ 3 anything died immediately from normal attacks. Boards weren’t on my side, too. Everybody died but Sumitomo.

Need a 2nd Boldie…

Empires and Puzzles The Olmor Experience - 2019 05 01 Trials of Strength (hard stage)