Cool idea. For me this question is about understanding the tank, what they do thatās most disruptive, and how to conceptually counter it. So while I will share my most common team, Iāll also address how Iād respond with a general roster (more accessible / geared towards C2P).
tl;dr
Kunchen: you MUST flip or cleanse that defense down immediately, so consider Rigard, Costumed Sonya, or better yet, Costumed Melendor and Kiril (ideally two of those listed). Then exploit Kunchenās slow mana speed by messing with their mana.
Telluria: I donāt know. Send help plz.
Gravemaker: you need multiple cleansers and must try to match his speed. However you can do that, THAT is your best team against him.
Guinevere: Clerics + dispellers. Exploit her passivity by prepping multiple specials and generating a kill.
Aegir: make the fight about time. Really grind their team and make it about attrition. Heās a staller, so exploit the fact that heās passive by fully charging your special. Enjoy attrition - the fight should take forever.
Kunchen
Yes, it sucks that he heals and puts up a yellow shield, but what he does that is really dangerous is the defense down ailment. It makes your team extremely susceptible to slash attacks and basically moves every hero immediately into sniping range. Therefore, when Kunchen fires, your priority must be to either clear the ailment (or lose the raid).
My team: Cos Rigard, Jackal, Victor, Joon, Onatel
This team is so strong against Kunchen that, though it is under 4,100 TP, I regularly beat EVERY Kunchen team with it, even those 400-500 TP greater. I have held off giving Victor and Onatel emblems because theyāre already performing so well in this situation (Cos Rigard, and Jackal are both +17 or so and Joon is +8 of so).
No one flips the defense buff better and faster than Victor - I think heās the single best anti-Kunchen hero. If you do not have him, then the hero who really deserves a mention her is Costumed Melendor. If you have him, it is very manageable to get him to a 9 tile charge - a huge asset against Kunchen. Barring that, it has to be Kiril.
The second biggest problem with Kunchen is the undispellable yellow shield. Obviously Jackal is the answer there, if you have him. It basically brings you back to par on Kunchen with tile damage. If you donāt have Jackal there are two avenues to combat this:
- Stack neutral: I would consider centering my attack around Costumed Melendor AND Kiril, going 3/2 blue / green or green / blue. I think you really will want both healers, to maximize your chances of clearing the defense down ailment. Costumed Melendor, Little John, Caedmon (Hansel and Peters if you have them), Kiril, and 1-2 of your best blues.
- Impair mana: you MUST stop Kunchen from firing a second time, so consider any and all mana controllers. Obviously Onatel, Gretel, and Mist come to mind for being the right element. But even if you donāt have that, Li Xiu and Leonidas should be available and serviceable. The key to this strategy is that you want to ignore trying to kill Kunchen, instead focusing on charging up specials, exploiting Kunchenās slow speed. I had great success with Li Xiu, Leonidas, and Onatel before my roster got upgraded. Two LX are NOT terrible, if you lack other options. Kunchen will Manashield sometimes, so having multiple cutters will be welcome.
Really you will probably blend these two strategies, depending on your roster and the rest of the defense. Also, if you have Mitsuko, donāt ignore her! She cuts mana and can outright kill a blue flank / wing. Iāve occasionally been rolling out a team where I sub her in for Onatel, though 2/2/1 is rare for me. It does work well though.
One last note: Iāve found two Valeriaās with level 11 mana troops also fare well at times, especially in Field Aid wars. They are very fast, their DoTās stack very quickly, and they impair healing. That makes them useful against Kunchen AND against the rest of the team. I can see a lot of cobmos here: combining with a yellow 3tack, paired with Kiril and 2 greens or yellows, etc.
Telluria
I have no idea how to beat her. Seriously. Since I lack Grazul and Zimkitha - who are obviously the two best counters - it has really been a struggle. Aeron (who I also donāt have lol) also deserves a mention. As a result, I am pathetically attacking 4/1, which means I acknowledge sheās too strong for me to work a 3tack against.
My team: Rigard, Gravemaker, Mitsuko, Anzogh, Costumed Boldtusk
Weirdly, one of the things Iāve been trying to do in my raids is to get the inevitable Vela flank to fire as close to Telluria as possible (often that means trying to coax Vela into firing FASTER). That way I can maximize the single cleanser I have on the field. I then try to charge Mitusko to reflect the second time (that red mana troop is crawling towards level 23).
I find it hilarious that I canāt handle Telluria, even with several rare heroes in my roster. Iām not sure how Iād address this more generally. Like Kunchen, the mana slow is the most damaging part of her special, so I would love to get multiple cleansers on the field; Iāll probably rejigger this once Costumed Caedmon is in the house.
I cannot emphasize this enough: I donāt fare well against Telluria.
Gravemaker
Itās the speed. His DoT is virtually guaranteed damage, considering his speed. You often wonāt have a cleanser charged at the right moment. Therefore, Iām going to say the single most important hero against him is:
KINGSTON
Seriously. Even though heās the wrong element, his immunity to burn means I fight almost every raid against GM with Kingston smack in the middle. Also, letās be real - that defense is five heroes and Kingston probably isnāt the weak element against any of the others.
My team: Mother North, Vela, Kingston, Frida / Isarnia, Ariel
Obviously a cleanser is a must, and N.B. that Mother Northās revived heroes come back clean (more impactful than you think if you donāt regularly use her). I recognize that this selection is mostly paywalled, so I donāt think thereās much point in talking about it too much. Letās move on to a more general roster.
You simply MUST put Rigard and Costumed Sonya on the field. You need multiple cleansing options (like how I suggested having two defense debuff flippers against Kunchen), and these are probably the most accessible two. Plus Sonya is the element you want anyway.
Filling out the rest of the roster will just be based on your best options in each element, keeping in mind that GMās speed is the more problematic aspect. Therefore Iād strong suggest Proteus - you can delay / stop a second cast and the other defenders. Kiril is a strong option as youāll likely need a second healer. This is a good spot to add that thereās a HUGE difference between having a level 23 mana troop for him and not. Get it up there, if you can. Lastly, do NOT bring Boril. He doesnāt riposte DoT.
More than the other tanks listed this is a spot where the troops really matter. Level 23 mana for Proteus and Kiril would be preferred, which I realize is a tough ask for a newer player. But what can I say? This is part of the reason GM is tough. You need more speed to combat his speed.
Guinevere
Ah, Telluria before Telluria. Like many of the tanks here, it is her secondary effects that really suck. In this case it is her mana cut. Which makes the single best counter the one that is immune to it. Iāll come back to that, acknowledging that not everyone has Seshat.
My team: Victor, Seshat, Costumed Rigard, with the other two filled out depending on the rest of the team.
If you donāt have Seshat, pack as many clerics onto the field as you can and hope Manashield procs. Also you MUST have a dispeller to clear Guinās HoT (oh wait, Seshat essentially does BOTH of those things? No wonder sheās such a powerful counter). Rigard is obviously the key here, as heās a cleric and the right element. Iād also consider bringing Sabina, as she is the right element, has strong tiles, and gives you that needed dispel (if you lack Seshat / Domitia). My ideal third would be Protues (Merlin if you have him), but the reality is they wonāt affect Guin. By the time theyāre charged sheāll likely be dead; youāre bringing them to attack the other heroes.
The rest of your team depends heavily on your roster. Look for Hansel. If you have him he probably has emblems. Heās a Cleric, heās fast, and he may stop subsequent casts. Since youāre already going in on greens you should consider Melendor and Caedmon (again, you need a dispel).
Guin is tough, no way around it. To the extent that you can exploit her, itās that sheās passive. She does no damage, so charge up your specials as best you can and make sure your firing order is correct (e.g., passive dispel from Mel / Sabina first).
Aegir
The good news is that there are many green heroes who dispel, so youāll probably center your attack around whatever Evelyn, Caedmon, Melendor-types you have. That is usually how I do it, but Iām going to discuss an alternative approach, one that I often use in war where I canāt just trot out my best heroes again and again.
The alliance Iām in often faces blue tanks in war, putting a real strain on my green heroes. I look for any opportunity to ārestā them, and usually an Aegir tank is the best opportunity. In those wars itās also hard to use my best red heroes, so I am always looking for an opportunity to get a few of them onto the field. Again, Aegir is a great opportunity for this, making WILBUR the key piece of an attack.
Since I am making a significant sacrifice on tile damage (that is, bringing weak tiles against Aegir), I need to make up for it somewhere else. I am hardly the first one to believe / write this, but using Aegirās special against his team is a great option. That is, rather than straight up dispel it, you flip it and use it to kill the rest of his team.
In any fight against a tank I am extremely likely to kill the tank first. Aegir teams are the one exception. Iām still most likely to take Aegir, but it happens that he is NOT first more than any other tank (and by far).
Like Guinevere, Aegir is passive, meaning your strategy will be to gather your specials (probably ALL of them) and then unleash them all simultaneously. This is easier to do against Aegir than Guin, since he wonāt cut your mana from an unexpected tile combo charging the tank.
My team: Costumed Rigard, Proteus, Wilbur, _____, Boldtusk
Since your strategy to accrue mana takes time, you want high impact specials. This lineup fits that bill. Especially Proteus, since at some point youāll need to lockdown a side of the defense to give yourself more time.
Letās address that last spot. It depends on the defense, but one option I often look at is Scarlett. Sheās fast and has a useful attack debuff that helps my team survive until more heroes are charged. So I may bring her if Aegir has a bunch of fast snipers around.
But if the team is more passive AND lacks a cleanser - say a Mother North in the corner, Iām going to strongly consider Colen. Heāll fire AFTER Wilbur, meaning his initial hit gets the benefit of the defense down (whereas Scarlett might not, if you have to use her earlier to survive). Plus his DoT stacking with Proteusā will be extremely impactful.
