The Definitive Guide To Building A Monster Toon On A Budget; The Final Volume

Presented by:
The Hanzo Ninja Clan School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts

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While this series and all my articles have always been intended to help all players, the primary focus has always been to help the free and budget player find ways to grind out a toon that could be competitive with the pay to win players. Well, you can take every article I have ever written and throw it out. They no longer have any value. Every time I write an article that shows play to win players how to move their toon forward, the development team here nerfs it and takes it away from you. So there's really no point in writing them. Trying to give you any kind of advantage merely causes me to lose it. So I won't be writing any more. If you have questions or need advice from me, most of you are more than welcome to ask directly.

As far as SC toons go, the increase in tokens for Krampus raids and the removal of sc from all but hero raids has firmly taken the advantage building an sc toon had, out of the hands of free and budget players and put only in the hands of the big money players and those who got in early enough that their sc build is either already finished or damn near. I'm sorry if you ruined your toon to pursue building an sc toon, just to now discover it will take years or lots of money to complete now. I know many who did. I wish I could change that for you, but the league led by a pay to win player and filled with toons that already finished their sc builds, successfully campaigned to take the affordable sc build out of your hands, and keep you from catching them. I'm just as disgusted as those of you that ruined your toons. GL with the rebuild, and for those players that aren't pay to win or didn't have an sc build near completion before this drastic change, I hope you can enjoy the parts of the game that aren't pvp and pay to win.

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CHRONO: Player PoV

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1st, I would like to thank my esteemed opponents in WMD for giving me the most fun in a Climb event that I've had in a hot minute. I was busy with life and didn't even realize there was a big Chrono event going. I jumped in about halfway through and was fine with bronze place prizes. Being so late, I didn't think I had any chance at better. But I noticed that my teammate, Avenger was in a tight running where he could potentially get 1st with maybe a little help, and possibly even 3rd if he didn't watch out.

So, rather than sit idly in the event and just take the prizes I was probably getting for no effort anyway, when my participation could potentially help a friend, I decided to jump into the fray. I knocked 3rd place back as much and as often as I could, to widen the gap between him and Avenger. A couple times, I managed to drop Skelanimal from 1st so Avenger could make up a few points.

After awhile, I found myself in 6th place for points. I wasn't expecting that. I sent the call out to my leaguemates and allies to help me out, even if they weren't yet in the event. One of their teammates, Damon, was currently in 5th, so WMD fought tooth and nail while I waited for backup.

I managed to claw ahead, but WMD wasn't going to just let me keep my gain. Avenger hadn't shown but for a short moment to take 1st before losing it again to Skelanimal. But I was now in silver ranking when I thought I could only get bronze......... If I could just hold on to it.........

That's when Super Rakly, Rakly as The World Serpent, PsyOps, and Shinobi showed up to lend a hand, widening the gap between 5th and 6th enough to give me a comfortable and safe distance.

Again, I thank WMD. It was a blast and an unexpected outcome. And thanks to my leaguemates, who got me into safe waters.

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Fan-Fiction: The Day Dew Bee Became A Superhero!

Chapter 1

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It was a regular Wednesday afternoon. Dew Bee was busy with his chores as the Chaos Theory janitor. It wasn't the most prestigious job, but it did get him rubbing elbows with the world's most powerful super team, Chaos Theory. The pay was basically non-existent, but he got other perks like access to the gym. If only he had the power some of his employers had, he could be a hero too, like them! But that hadn't been his fate. No, he was merely a lowly janitor in their meager employ. His only super power was being super ugly. He was so ugly, he had a face even a mother couldn't love.

As he mopped the floor, he daydreamed about what it would be like to be a real hero. Not the kind that risked their lives daily, like fire fighters, disaster rescue volunteers, or law enforcement. Those guys had no powers. More like the kind of heroes who didn't risk their lives saving people because their powers negated any risk. That was more up to Dew Bee's liking. The thought of potential death or maiming is why Dew Bee wasn't out there risking his life to save people already.

But what if he had an Infinity Stone, like Neo, or the strength of entire forests, like Woody? What If he had the money to design hyper advanced tech like Super Rakly or Avenger? What If he had the size of Midgardsormr, or the fighting skill of Heretic? Oh the possibilities! Everyone would know his name! Pretty girls would faint when he walked by, and blush when he smiled at them. Little old ladies would bake him cookies and pies! The guys at the YMCA would give him high fives instead of wedgies. Oh, if only he had the means.......

Punlork was walking down the hall Dew Bee had paused to day dream on.

"Hey, Dew Bee! I was just checking the mail. You got a letter."

"Really????" exclaimed Dew Bee. "No one ever writes me. Is it my birthday?"

"I don't think so, Dew Bee." answered Punlork. "It's from the Sentinel. Maybe they want to interview you about how great it is being behind the scenes at Chaos Theory. You know, without you, this place would fall apart. While we're out there saving the world, you're here making sure we have a comfortable place to come back too."

"Oh yeah!" replied Dew Bee. "This is a glorious job! I can't think of anything better or more fulfilling to do than pick up after you guys."

Dew Bee rolled his eyes a little as Punlork continued on his way, oblivious to the sarcasm in Dew Bee's voice. Putting his mop down for a minute, he turned his attention back to the envelope Punlork had given him. It's probably another rejection letter for one of his freelance articles he kept sending them. He wasn't much of a writer, but if he was going to ever be a hero, he had to start somewhere. Who better to emulate than Superman, and that's how he got his start.

Fumbling a little as he opened it, Dew Bee nervously pulled the letter out and unfolded it.

Dear Mr. Bee,

We are happy to inform you that we have accepted your latest article for inclusion. Along with this message, we have included a check as your payment. Thank you, and we look forward to contributions in the future from you.

~Kravnos~

As he looked at the check enclosed with the message for payment for one of his articles, Dew Bee's eyes bulged out of his head as his jaw dropped to the floor.

"WOOOOOOOOOOO DOGGIE!!!!" he screamed as he danced and ran like a madman out of the Chaos Theory Gym.

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The Definitive Guide To Building A Monster Toon On A Budget; Volume 1

The Hanzo Ninja Clan School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts Presents:

The Definitive Guide To Building A Monster Toon On A Budget; Volume 1

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Some of you already know the techniques I'm about to explain, either through me, or 2nd hand through those I've told in the past. These techniques are what allowed me to become a top toon in just a few months, and becoming a top 3 toon in under a year. There will be some folks that are going to be upset with me for sharing this info, but I feel like enough folks know already, that it isn't a huge secret anymore. Furthermore, if the average level of play improves across the board for all players, it will force top toons to improve and create more good competition for everyone. The weaker toons will become stronger and have a fighting chance, and the stronger toons will have to fight harder for their wins. While this may seem bad for a few players, myself included, I feel it will be good for the overall game as a whole. Seeing Hard Left Hook's performance thus far in the 1st Draft Wars is what convinced me this knowledge is good for the community and the game, as a whole. Sorry, Frank.

1st and foremost, you want to build a strong base deck for your powers. This chapter of the series delves into that, while future chapters will delve into raiding, gear, and skill point allocation. But those chapters will simply help you make the most of what is learned in this Volume.



The biggest trick in the game currently is Super Charges (from hence forth reffered to as sc). Depending on where you get them, they can cost as much as 80 MP each, with the store being the highest purchase cost. They can also be found at a discount in the Black Market in patrols, or won for free in raids and climb events. I'll go into how to quickly and even cheaply collect sc in a future volume. For now, just understand that sc are THE MOST IMPORTANT part of powering up on a budget.

SC add 1 point to a cards stats relevant to the type of sc used. Each different card you have has a limit of 150 sc per stat. So each card can add 150 att sc, 150 def sc, and 150 move sc. That's 450 sc per card to fill them. The beauty of sc is that the sc bonus to your power card will go to every card you have that is a duplicate. So if you have 4000 of a card and an sc hits it, you just went up 4000 points on that stat BEFORE tiering, sp and gear bonuses. Each sc goes to a random card when used. So there's no telling which card it will go to. But by limiting the number of cards it can land on by limiting your number of different cards and maximizing the total number of cards you want them to land on, you can create a lot of control as to where the sc do land.

Now let's go into that concept some. Your chance of sc landing on a card are 1 in however many cards you have. So if you have 5000 cards your odds of hitting any one specific card are 1 in 5000. But if you have duplicates, those odds are multiplied by the number of copies. If you have 3000 of card A, 1500 of card B, and 500 of card C, you have a 60% chance for card A to get the sc, 30% chance for B, and 10% for card C. If the sc hits A, you gain 3000 pre bonus, pre tier addition to your stats. But if it lands on B, you only get 1500. If it lands on C, you only get 500. If it lands on a card you have one of, you only get 1 measly point. So limiting the amount of different cards the sc can land on can make the difference of spending as much as 80 mp to gain 1 point vs gaining a few thousand.

Now, the trick to making this happen is choosing 3 cards, and 3 cards only, to build your toon with. 1 att card, 1 def card, and 1 move card. You want all other cards to be duplicates of these 3 cards. By doing this, you guarantee to make the most of your sc. You can add other cards later, AFTER you fully sc these 3 cards. This insures you get thousands of points for your sc instead of just a few. Please note, you will still have to keep 3 of each card you want to use for Atlas.



Now the question becomes which cards to choose. That answer will be dependent on you and your resources like time and money. There are a couple basic guidelines to which 3 cards you should pick, though. 1st, it has to be a card that you can EASILY get an unlimited number of. So you don't want cards that are hard or slow to get, or cards that are limited to a finite number. Let's go into the pros and cons of each to determine which is right for you.

Bux cards are the cheapest, fastest way to power up this type of build. It's not my preferred choice for a number of reasons, but it isn't entirely a bad one. It's just that, with this information now out, it's the bottom rung technique. Bux cards just don't start off as strong as their Crystal and MP counterparts. Furthermore, they require a deficit. So you have to find a way to maintain that deficit and that takes earning bux. Depending on which bux cards you use, that deficit can quickly become too much to handle normally, forcing you to play at a much weaker rate than you would want to run during tournament. Luckily, there's an Atlas Perk, War Profiteer, that allows you to erase your deficit during wars. That Perk is MONSTEROUS for Bux toons. So if you go this route, be sure to get 2 stars on that Perk. The biggest pro to this choice is Bux cards are quick and easy to acquire. The biggest con is the deficit. But again, during wars, that deficit can be negated with a Perk. This option is best suited to free and budget players with little time.

Crystal cards are the next option, and my preferred one. Store bought Crystal cards are limited, and cost Crystal to acquire. This is a very bad choice. Crystal cards won in Fight Club (fc) are slow to come by, and not worth the time it takes to acquire. These cards are best sold to tier others. Crystal cards from raids are as abundant as you are able to do raids. They also don't cost any crystals to acquire, which you'll need for tiering. Furthermore, many raids also drop sc, speeding up your sc acquisition for free. This is what my deck is primarily made of. I suggest it for any player with enough time to raid regularly. Once your deck is full, you can slow your raiding down to 1 raid per level.

Mp cards cost a lot. At my level, there's nothing cheap about trying to fill my deck with over 15000 cards. Furthermore, store bought cards and most Shuffle cards are limited in number. Once they sell out, you can no longer take advantage of already placed sc on future growth. Once this happens, it will take another 450 sc to build up a new card. Unless you're super rich, this kind of process is probably outside most of your guys reach. If you do decide to buy MP cards, and realize you will be collecting another 450 sc each time you start the process over, be sure to buy as many as you can at 1 time. For the purpose of pure power, Challenge cards and AMP Den cards are a solid choice. The 1% Shuffle cards that are unlimited are still going to be expensive to acquire in large numbers and then tier. MP cards won through competition and game play come far too slow to make them viable choices. Raid MP cards are a viable option, but do still cost MP to tier. I advise to go after the ones that are more common. This path is best suited for those with a large budget in line with the likes of Avenger, Super Rakly, and Skelanimal.

Another option, 1st brought up by Daryl Danforth /Zombie Ex-Girlfriend, is to use Bux cards for 1 stat, Crystal for another, and MP for the last. This will certainly ease your resource gathering efforts, but leave your toon somewhat unbalanced in their stats. With Move being the most important base stat, it's probably best you used your strongest card (MP) for that.

Once your 3 cards are fully sc'ed, with 450 sc each, you can either stop trying to acquire sc and put those MP towards things like gear and consumables, or you can pick out other cards that you can start scing, which will make a stronger card later, but are harder to get. Use these to supplement the power of your base deck. They could be your Atlas cards, for example. They could be the new patrol cards, Serpents Strike, Eagle Eyes, and/or Wings of Night. They could be the 1% Shuffle cards. They could be the AMP Den cards. Just be sure you buy the max possible if you go this route, since they are only available for 1 month. All of these choices are good to SUPPLEMENT your base deck with. If you plan on going this route once finished with your base deck, and you already have your expansion cards in your deck before selling off all your cards, consider keeping them. It will slow your the rate of your sc growth on your base deck, but be more beneficial in the long run. Do factor in tiering as well. In many cases, a fully tiered, fully sc'ed Crystal or Bux card is stronger than a fully sc'ed MP card that isn't tiered.

Once you are satisfied with your deck, you can now start using those valuable MP you were spending on sc to gather gear. Obviously, the Shuffle is your best bet for great gear. Be sure to sell any cards you get from the Shuffle, that you aren't using in your deck. Then use the MP from selling those to spin the Shuffle some more. Rinse and repeat. Your acquisition of good gear will now come much faster. The cards you sell will cost too much and take too long to be as strong as your base deck cards anyway, and will only hinder your growth progress.

This is THE most valuable information on solid toon building in the game. This is the information that starts free and budget toons on their path to beating the big budget players. Here's the catch 22 though. They all know it too now. Still, it's one helluva game balancer to level the playing field.

In our next volume, we will be going into raiding and how to get the most out of it. Good luck heroes and villains. I hope I've made your path to power that much easier to accomplish and your goals that much closer within your reach.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Crystal Acquisition

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For those who really follow the HNC teachings, you already know the value of raiding and crystal cards. About 80% to 90% of my cards are crystal cards from raids, and my toon Neo is a top 3 toon. When I have time, I raid like a madman, though, to be honest, lately, life has not provided me that time. I'm still about 550 cards shy of a full deck. But raiding, and following my guidelines, should get you a lot of power.

Before my leaguemate Mike "The World Serpent Jormurgandr" Gibbon passed, he asked me how I was able to collect enough crystals to tier so many cards so fast. Some of the answers were obvious. Do Fight Club. Do patrols and missions. Do your dailies. Etc. But there's 2 factors a lot of folks seem to miss.

For 1 thing, the crystal multiplier cons are invaluable to a free/budget player using my systems. I know they cost MP or bux, but they are well worth it, and combined, multiply crystals by 3x. That can be huge if you plan out a crystal run, where you do as many as 3 full Fight Clubs at 1 time, collect your dailies, and run the right patrols. Even some bosses give crystals.

But here's one everyone seems to ignore. I admit, even I often pass it up due to the tediousness of it compared to other methods. Fortunately, you don't have to choose between methods. You can do them all. And this particular method can net you quite a bit of crystals on top of your other methods.

What is this method so many seem to ignore? Their friends list. If you go to your friends list, you can click on them, collect their crystals, hit the back button, and collect from the next. Now, in order to do this, you will need to enter the game from the main link. If you entered using a raid link or something similar, hitting the back button will take you back to the page where you clicked the link. So be sure to enter from the main login page when you use this method.

Now, you might be asking just how lucrative is it? Well, I only have 430 actual toon friends in my friend list. The rest of my team is made up of hired henchmen. That's the equivalent of only a level 430 toon, despite my toon closing on lvl 1100. So it's not like I have a ton more toon friends in my list than most of you. Many of you actually have more. But after using all my crystals to tier cards, I was down to 3. I went to my friends list, and in about 45 minutes, I collected another 2745. That's a huge chunk of tiering. I get between 5k and 6k for doing 3 Fight Clubs. So this is pretty big, if you want to take the time.

1 way to insure a good haul is to create as many dummy accounts as you can. These are like cash cows, but for crystals. These dummy accounts can ONLY have one friend, no matter their level, and that single friend is YOU. This allows you to accumulate crystals on them that NO ONE ELSE can collect. This maximizes your yield when you do collect from your friend list, as well as gives you quick access to high crystal volume friends for when you only have a little time to collect. Just scroll to where they are at and start collecting.

Good luck, heroes and villains. For those of you who follow me close, you know how valuable those crystals have become. Use every method you can to acquire them until your deck is fully crystal tiered.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Just Do It!

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Some folks like to tell others it's money that wins the game, or high levels, or any number of things, depending on their perspective. The truth is, success in the game is the result of many things, not just 1. Not every option will be available to every player nor is each option as crucial as some may believe. The key isn't which options you use to power your toon as much as how much you exercise those options.

As most of you know, I have spent a large portion of my time here teaching others how to improve their toons. Even my biggest haters that tell folks not to listen to me and think they are better than me, learned from me. I honestly used to get a lot of $#!+ for teaching others. But those of you who remember me from SHC know I have always had a place in my heart for the little guy. I've always enjoyed showing those that think they can't, that they can. Some players, ones that reached out to me and became friends despite not being affiliated in game and possibly even being on opposing teams, garnered personal attention from and access to me, and have managed to reap the benefits. My personal favorite Podwan is Princess Sarai, by Reggie Brumsey.

Reggie was already running a couple well known budget toons before I taught him some of my tricks he used to create Sarai. He totally fit the bill for me when it came to picking a Podwan. He checked off all the checkmarks. He was a budget player. He played with enough dedication to be just below the big spender whales despite not spending a fraction of what they did. He enjoyed the game and always sought to improve despite not being one of the uber elites. Win or lose, he was having fun. And he stuck by his friends. He's been with Brute Squad since it started. And honestly, he's one of the most humble and likable players in the game. I am glad I took a chance on him, because our friendship has been just as valuable to me as my knowledge has been to him. And the results of my knowledge and his efforts are undeniable. One just needs to look at the pic provided that shows him beating a VERY EXPENSIVE toon from my own league, that also happens to be a good bit ahead in levels as well. Lvl 674 Sarai vs lvl 938 Magnificent Punlork. I'm not going to lie. Despite him beating my leaguemate, that gets me excited and certainly makes me proud of the part I played in Reggie's Sarai project. Sarai should get all of you excited too. She's proof that you can do it too. She's proof it isn't as much about money or levels as it is about knowledge and the players themselves.



My toon Neo Hanzo is a far cheaper toon than many of those he beats, and most of the money spent on him was to power level him from a lowly micro level 20 to hitting the level cap in under a year, so that I could replace OG Hanzo with a better designed toon as fast as possible. For example, over 60% of my hero's friendlist is hired henchmen. I have only targeted 3 Shuffles in that time, to hunt specific gear that went with his build. The vast majority of his card deck is free cards gained through game play. Only about 10 to 15 % of his cards are bought MP cards, though the ones I did spend MP to acquire are damn good ones.

There are 3 factors that build a good toon. Money and time are the most well known, but not the most important. Knowledge is the most important. Knowing where to spend your money and how to spend your time is what will determine how well that time and money is spent. The 1st two certainly help, but it's the last one that will make the real difference. So don't listen to the naysayers or the excuse makers. Don't listen to the ones complaining that they can't. Listen to the ones doing what the others say can't be done.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Power Patrolling

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Some new changes to patrols have players buzzing! For the high rollers, the Black Market now gives you 3 items to choose from. And you don't have to choose! Buy 1, 2, 3, or none! For the free and budget player that can't liberally afford to spend MP on the Black Market, there's now the option of fighting the Dealer to win some or all of the offered items, along with some MP! Be forewarned, this guy isn't a walk in the park and results have varied greatly, even for the same player. Being new, it's still anyone's guess if there's a rhyme or reason to defeating this new NPC, the Dealer, but theories are being tested. It does seem that he gets more difficult the more times you beat him.



Also, 3 new power cards have hit the streets and made doing patrols more worthwhile than ever! These cards have a low resell value of only 2 MP, but compare to some of the best cards in the Shuffle! 1% Shuffle power cards that are comparable generally sell or tier for around 50 MP, give or take, giving them a value of around 150 MP. To fully tier, they will cost around 200 MP. By comparison, these new patrol power cards only cost 10 MP to tier each lvl, 40 MP to fully tier. That's a HUGE comparable savings!



So let's say you rolled the Shuffle from a won Shuffle free spin and got an Agent Nova card, and at the same time pulled one of the new patrol cards. It will cost 40 MP to tier the Agent Nova card each level, for a total of 160 MP. But if you sold the Agent Nova card for 40 MP, it funds tiering the patrol card to lvl 5, and has 4 more stat points than a tier 5 Agent Nova that would cost you an additional 160 MP. Furthermore, being patrol prize cards, they are not limited in the number you can acquire.



Good luck in your hunting, heroes.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Raid Raiders!!!!

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Raiding has made a huge impact for those players willing to break away from traditional toon building "rules". Unfortunately, I see so many players ingrained in the old way of building, where you either had to patiently wait for an eternity to develop a strong toon, sacrificing play time, enjoyment, and overall power as other players level past you, or spend a large amount of money to allow you the freedom to level without outgrowing your power base. Raiding has given us the ability to level almost with impunity and actually grow our toons as we do. No more are we required to level into empty levels which then need to be filled with powers. Raiding has allowed us to gain powers as we level.

Now, to be fair, Raids are far better for players as they increase their levels than they are early on for developing toons. This is because experience points are given for each hit, rather than the amount of damage done. Since lower level toons tend to be weaker, their hits tend to do less damage. So they are going to be gaining more experience for the same amount of damage as a toon that does more damage per hit, because the other toon is using fewer hits for the same amount of damage. Because of this, lower level and weaker toons will have a lower reward per experience ratio than stronger hitters. But as your toon gets stronger and learns how to do more damage, your rewards per level increase will increase dramatically.

Before we get into how to do more damage or get more rewards, let's take a minute to look at Raid Etiquette.

In order to be successful at raids, it's important to find a like minded group of players to mob up raids with. These players don't have to be part of your team or league. They can be anyone your group of raiders feels is right for the group.

Aside from just hitters, you also want players who can hunt down summon items and AMA parts for raid tokens. In my own group, all of us fit this category. Try to do your part in collecting tokens and summon items. Many players use multiple utility alts for this purpose.

Once you have a good group together, you'll discover not everyone is adding summon material for every raid. That's ok. As long as they all are always trying, it will even out over time. Some days you will hunt all day long and get back minimal returns. Other days, summon material will seem to be behind every corner. That means some days your friends will carry you, and some days you will have to carry them.

BUT........ when this happens, pay careful attention to who has added summon material to the raid. Learn what their damage requirements are and let them get what they need before claiming any for yourself. That doesn't mean wait till they are done. It simply means that if each of the 3 players that added summon material want 200k damage a piece, make sure there is enough left over when you are done to allow them to get that damage in, and a little more for an overages cushion. How much damage you can do should be agreed upon beforehand with your raid team. You should also consider what your own needs are from the raids, and discuss this with any potential raid partners. This will be critical on how much damage you need to do, and how much damage you need to do is critical in determining how many toons can be in a raid and everyone effectively get everything they want. Some players are looking for gear. Some are trying to fill their decks with every card they can. Some are hunting specific cards. How much damage they need to do plays a huge factor on building raid teams. Generally speaking, the gear is by far the 1st thing most players really hunt for. But most of the gear require huge damage at low return rates. But, even though the cost is high, the premium gear from raids very much hold their own against uber gear from the Nova Shuffle. And for players that already have their fill of such gear, the MP resell value can put some decent MP in your toon's pocket. The power cards and cons are also of great value. In order to get your best chances at getting ALL the drops, I recommend doing 1/3rd of the total damage required to kill the raid. But if you are only looking for specific pieces, you'll need to do a little math. Look at the piece you want 1st off. What is the damage requirement to obtain a chance at it? The Windswept power gives a 2% chance per 6000 damage done. That means for the 1st 6000 damage I do, I get a 2% chance to win that card. But thanks to progressive rewards, those odds increase each time the reward threshold is met. So when I get to 12000 damage, I now have made a 2% roll and a 4% roll. If this is the card I am hunting for, I want to do damage in damage increments of 6000, because 6000 is the damage requirement for a roll to get it. IDEALLY, you want to get to a 50% roll. That's not going to be easy. For Windswept, that would be 25 x 6000 for 150,000 damage. But if you want all 5 that are available, you will have to do that 5 times, for a total 750,000 for the absolute guarantee. But I have found that 11x for 5% drops, 26x for 2% drops seems to do the trick. After deciding what kind of rewards you're hunting and which raids are best to get them from, start tallying up your damage requirements per raid with your raid team. You don't want a team that needs more than the raids provide. So limiting participants is important. Only have enough members on your raid team so that they can all get what they are looking for. After an agreed upon time limit or after all members have gotten their desired damage in, go ahead and share with others.

While it might seem like a good idea to make these raids public by inviting everyone on your friends list, consider instead leveraging these raids to other raid teams, in return for the ones they are finished mining. Your team is your 1st raid wave. Your raid trade partners are your 2nd wave. And vice versa. If you still need more hitters after 2 different raid teams have taken their swings, go ahead and release the raid to the rest of your friends list, or list it on the player's page, or finish it off with utility alts.

The biggest problem with being a successful raider are the massive energy requirements. You only have a maximum of 48 hours to do all the damage in a raid as you can get in. Daily energy gifts only give 480 energy. You're probably going to have to start looking at upping your energy stat skill points. Mine has 100 sp in energy. That gives me 110 energy. Combined with my HQ bonus, I get 120 energy. Using the 5 point energy refill option, now becomes worth using. Furthermore, the mp cards and gear I get from raids, that I don't want, can be sold for the MP I buy refills for. Between the gear and the large numbers of power cards, using raids to build a strong competitive toon is extremely possible. My main toon is almost entirely built off raid and bux cards. The amount of power cards one can acquire is relative to the amount of work one is willing to put in towards it. The gear is absolutely great.

Raiding certainly isn't for everyone, especially those who wish to polesit in the lower levels. But if you plan on taking your toon to over level 500 cheaply, Raids certainly are a great way to compete cheaply.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Raiders Of The Lost Arx!

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Image by Daryl Danforth

Raids are now a well known and well used mainstay in Heroes Rising. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of energy to be a raid toon successfully. In the past, putting Skill Points (SP) into your Energy stat beyond what was generally needed was generally frowned upon for competitive toons. Some players squeezed every point they could into fight stats, spending none on their Energy Bank. Most took their Energy Banks up to 30 (20 SP) so that they could complete an entire Fight Club. A few pioneers like John Dellorusso went a step further and upped their Energy Banks to 50 fairly early on, to give them a leveling advantage. Energy Alts were the primary exception, but aren't really designed for competition.

Things have changed though. Back then, we were pushing levels of 200, 300, and 400 for ages. Leveling was very slow and stagnated. Players had to really hoard every SP and carefully decide where each should go. But as we start to quickly reach level 900 and look beyond to level 1000, SP are becoming less and less as crucial a resource. Don't get me wrong. They are still extremely important. But as more become available, small numbers spent experimenting in other areas become less of a liability. Early on, everyone put their SP in Move. As time went on and diminishing returns started to cost heavier and heavier tolls, adding SP to Att and Def started to make sense. Later still, adding large quantities of points to life started to see a strong benefit. Yet, at one time, 99% of players would tell you to build a strictly Move SP allotment.

Now, with raids becoming a bigger and bigger part of HR, trying to find the energy to do Patrols, Fight Club, Missions, and successfully Raid might seem impossible. It most certainly can be. Something is going to have to give. Either you're going to give up FC, and miss out on more MP and Crystals, or you're going to miss out on Patrols that provide power cards, MP, Crystals, Bux, AMA, Summoning Items, etc., or you're going to miss out doing maximum damage for what you want from the raids, making the process more difficult and costly to you in the long run. Energy Gifts only provide 420 energy a day. That's pretty much only going to dent a raid. You can buy items from the store that provide more energy or speeds up energy production, but those cost resources too. Resources that might not be easy to come by. Sure, you can spend 5 MP and refill your Energy Bank, but at 30 energy a pop only, this can get expensive very fast.

Perhaps putting points into your Energy Bank isn't such a bad idea anymore. I have a toon with just slightly over 2 hours worth of an Energy Bank. Because of my HQ, my Fight Bank also takes 2 hours to completely fill. I only have to get in game every 2 hours to be sure I don't lose any resources that I can use to improve my toon. When I feel like it, making huge leveling feats becomes less a task than it once was. When I go to sleep or leave the game for extended hours, I lose far fewer resources from my Energy Bank and Fight Bank filling. When I level, I get a nice surge of energy and fights to help me in my in game efforts. And IF I decide I want to spend 5 MP to buy energy, 2 hours worth, 120, is 4 times as much of a bargain as what I was getting at 30 energy.

Adding SP to your Energy Bank will make raiding a much easier and much more rewarding task, that only minimally, if at all, invades your ability to do other tasks. You'll get more damage in, winning you more cards and gear, building your power and damage, increasing your rewards even more, etc, etc, on and on in a snowballing cycle. I think there's a bear wandering the lists that could tell you a little more about how that cycle works. My best toon has 100 SP in Energy plus a lvl 5 Cafeteria. That's a mere 50 levels worth of SP. That might sound like a lot, but as we start closing in on a lvl 1000 lvl cap, is it really?

WARNING!!!! I DO NOT advise this strategy for players that wish to pole-sit at 1 level or feel their toon must be so finely tuned as to not be able to afford leeway for versatility.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Turning Climb Events Into A Victory Even If You Lose!

Climb events are currently an absolutely great way to power up your toon. Prize cards are equal to much of what you can win from the Nova Shuffle. Currently, participation and division breaks make competition pretty light, allowing most players in most divisions the ability to win prizes even if all they do is sign up. This is less so in the lower divisions, but more so in the higher divisions. Honestly, it's hard to go wrong entering Climb events at all.

If, by chance and effort, you manage to win two of these events within the last 4 tries, you are given the opportunity to go into a "secret mode" where your toon can go under the mountain to face unknown shadowy villains for potentially great prizes. Be forewarned, these villains are tough and don't always give the prizes you want. Further compounding their difficulty is the fact you have no idea what you are facing till you've faced it, or unless you use a candle. Candles can be found doing Patrols, or in the Items Store. They give you the ability to at least see the cores of these villains so you can set up your gear with at least a little intel. Don't worry. You can leave this screen to change gear and head back without losing your place. You will face 3 sets of opponents, with each set consisting of two opponents you get to choose from. All of them are VERY hard and I can't tell you how best to beat any of them because they are all always different. (At least, I currently believe so. Others may have better information than I do for this part.)

If you beat these 3 opponents, you then face a shadow version of yourself. These pesky shadow clones are popping up everywhere. I blame Mayor Justice for this outrage! Fortunately, unlike the previous opponents, there's a trick to fighting this one. He is a clone of your toon. So he will be wearing the same gear, but is sometimes slightly stronger. The best way to defeat him is to strip off all your gear and use cons and HQ bonuses to beat him, since he only copies your gear and powers, and not your bonuses.

But that's all IF you can find your way under the Mountain, AND decide you want to go. Why might you decide to go? Well, there's potentially 4 cards and 4 cons you could get. But you don't know what they will be until after you get to them, and there's no guarantee you'll win any of them. Lose just 1 match and your journey ends. If it's the 1st one, you're just out of luck when it comes to prizes.

Meanwhile, if you don't make it to Under The Mountain, or choose not to go, you have a shot at 3 different prize packages in the Climb event. Each comes with 1 power card and 1 con. You know what these are before you ever enter, simply by looking at the prize tab. And with current participation levels and division splits, you're sure to win something. If you don't like what you see and want to take a chance going Under The Mountain, and that option is available to you, then sure, go for it. But remember you're taking a chance vs taking a sure thing.

Now, prize packages are randomly rolled for by the game for each place and each division. It's very possible for lower place prizes to be more rare, useful, and/or valuable than the prizes above them. This is where losing can actually help you win. Before you just up and decide you want to go for Gold, take a look at the prizes for your division. Is 1st really something you can use? Or is Silver better? Is Gold out of your reach but not so much with Silver? That's great too! But what if Bronze prizes work better for you than Silver? It's quite possible you might improve your situation more by taking a lower spot than a higher one.

Let's take a look at what I mean.



In this image, the two cards aren't overly different in power. Yes, the 1st place card is a little better, but let's look at the cons, Destructive Soulgem vs. Turtle Shell. Destructive Soulgem is the most rare of it's type of con, found in "Through The Fire And Flames" patrol found in Ardeal, BUT........ it does drop as a patrol reward. Turtle Shell, on the other hand, is a far more rare drop. Usually it is given as a special drop for special limited time missions like the "Ticket To Orbit" patrols that only come out for the Birthday Anniversary. You can get it to drop in Patrols too, though, but only in the Black Market, and at a cost of anywhere from 15 to 40 MP. Furthermore, unless my build uses a lot of 3x damage, +8 might not serve me so well. But 10% Def serves any build. By losing here and taking Silver, I set myself up for a bigger win down the line by adding a better con to my supply reserves.





Now let's look at another example. Quad Damage gives the user +10 3x Damage. It really isn't that uncommon and can be found in the "Game Over" patrol in Purgatory Penitentiary. Again, if your build setup doesn't utilize 3x Damage, this con will only be mildly helpful to you. But Silver gives a Scarab of Protection. This may only be a plus 1% to your Defense, but this con is usable for any build. This con can also be found doing the "Shifting Circumstances" patrol in Purgatory Penitentiary and has about the same rarity as Quad Damage. Now the Bronze prize package in this group is Philter of Flamestrike, providing +100 Att/Strike (good for Duels and Brawls events) and +5 Elemental Damage. This con CANNOT be found doing Patrols. You are going to have to win it if you want one. That might be something you want to consider. In my opinion, the fact that I can easily obtain the other cons elsewhere but only win this one, makes Bronze start to look really nice.

Now, it's important also to consider how many of a particular con you have in your inventory. The Philter of Flamestrike only allows 1 use per day, whereas the Quad Damage allows 5 uses. If I have 5 Philter of Flamestrikes and only 2 Quad Damage, I might consider the Quad Damage of more importance right now.

Another factor to think about is Super Charges. If the Bronze prize card is one you already own, and you have a bunch of Super Charges on the copies you own, but have no Super Charges, or much fewer on any copies you might have of 1st and Silver place cards, it's probably a better choice to go after that Bronze card.

Now, "losing to win" isn't always going to be your best option, but sometimes it is. Keep a vigil eye out for opportunities when going for less will gain you more. They do pop up more often than one might think or expect. And the beauty is fewer folks want Bronze than want Silver, and fewer want Silver than Gold. Sometimes it's worth letting them have it and make a win/win scenario.

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Energy Alts Revisited

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Bubba Wayne had just gotten the alert from Nova on his BADGE Comwatch. He was to meet up with Clark Kant on a mission to stop meteors from hitting the planet. He wasn't sure what he could do. He didn't have super powers like laser vision or nigh invulnerability like Clark. He didn't have super strength. He didn't have any nifty gadgets or vehicles like his rich cousin from Gotham. He couldn't even fly, so he wasn't at all sure how he was supposed to get into space to deflect these meteors. Still, Nova sent out the call and it was his job to answer. He was sure they would know what to do with him, or else quickly realize their mistake.

He looked back over his shoulder at his secret hideout. It was modeled after his more famous cousin's. He had a hidden cave fully equipped with computers and satellite monitoring systems, along with a whole host of other awesome stuff like a gym. But that was his rich cousin. Bubba just had a cave. His secret HQ was a literal hole in the ground. He didn't even have a posh butler trained by the British government to be a super spy. He just had 3 yellow goofballs in blue overalls that liked eating bananas. One of them only had one eye. He found them starving in the woods and gave them some dry banana chips he had with him. They've been with him ever since. The three of them waved excitedly at their boss as he left them to face certain doom trying to save the world from meteors. He hoped they would be ok without him. It's not like they could do much damage. It was just a cave, afterall...........

To Be Continued..............

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring urgent news about...........

ENERGY ALTS!!!!

Back in the Christmas Special Double Feature from a couple years back, I discussed the building of an Energy Alt. This is a utility alt whose purpose is to collect resources like MPs and Crystals to help build a league HQ for free. With the new addition of player summoned Raids, it's time to revisit this particular type of utility alt. This particular alt was discussed in Part 2, found here.

Now, an Energy Alt has all or nearly all their Skill Points (30) in their Energy, extending their Energy Bank as far as possible. The real value in Energy Alts comes in their ability to refill MASSIVE quantities of energy for a mere 5 MP. For most competition toons, that have around 30 SP in their Energy Bank, using MP Energy Refills is an economically bad idea the vast majority of the time. But for an Energy Alt, it can be huge!

I have one alt that has a nearly 1400 point Energy Bank. Simply doing 1 point missions in New Amsterdam will net me more MP than it costs to refill my Energy Bank for 5 MP. The only thing that limits me from leveling him nonstop indefinitely is my time and choice. But no matter what pace I choose to level that toon at, I always end up with a surplus in MP despite using MP Energy Refills.

Now, the main purpose for an Energy Alt is to gather resources for your main toon and your league, without sacrificing them from your competition toons, and to do so without spending any real world money. While not the only place to distribute farmed resources, the league HQ is the primary place one would distribute their mined Bux, Crystal, and MP. T

When it comes to most free or budget players, running an Upkeep deficit is crucial to competing with the bigger spenders. Energy Alts can be built to quickly level up to the minimum required level for the highest career. After that, they can simply collect Bux to pass off to your mains when your main toons are in need. Energy Alts make great Cash Cows!

Because Energy Alts can be built up quickly in levels, they not only make great Cash Cows, they make great Experience Cows too! When I need to level another toon fast, I can strip my high level Energy Alts of gear and either sell my cards or donate them to the HQ Sentinel, then hit them. Imagine a level 1 brand new toon with 5 powers and 1 ring gaining experience from beating a level 650+ toon. One hit would level him several times. Get a cache of these toons between you and your friends and add massive amounts of levels to new toons in no time. This is a great way to level up new Energy Alts that have a Red Cape consumable on, to quickly gather MP for HQ building.

There is a new aspect to the game since last we discussed Energy Alts; Raids. Raids give you the lowest return per energy spent when it comes to Experience Points. But what it does do is gives you cards and gear that you can then pass off to your league's HQ Sentinel. Doing so allows your leaguemates to keep their powers and gear as long as you have the donor Energy Alt on the team. It also provides another avenue for gaining MP and Crystals, by selling the cards and gear, that can be used to build your HQ.

Now that raids are here, it's even possible to turn an Energy Alt into a decent toon using just raid cards and mostly raid gear, supplemented with better when the opportunity arises. It won't be a great toon, but it potentially won't be a bad one either.

Energy Alts are also good for farming Raids Summon Items and Tokens. And the rewards they get for summoning them can buy you Red Capes from the Raid Punch Store.

If one of your raids needs to be finished fast, Energy Alts could be the cure you're looking for in a pinch.

Lastly, Energy Alts can collect gear, power cards, and cons for you and your friends. How so? Well, once Halloween rolls around, you can put those items in your Trick or Treat Bowl and let your friends and leaguemates know to jump in line real quick. And if several of you each have a few alts with goodies, the lot of you can really rack up.

I hope the original, combined with the update, serves to help you, especially the free and budget players. Energy Alts were designed for your needs and restrictions. Using them effectively can go a long way towards helping your main toons compete with the big dogs. From building up top notch HQs, to beefing up Sentinels, to passing gear and rare cons off to your leaguemates during Halloween, building one, or a few, and getting your leaguemates to do the same, can really give you an edge that costs others lots of money, for free.

We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program.

Bubba was almost home. He would like to say he was glad, but that wasn't really the case. BADGE had assigned him to monitor incoming meteors from their satellite HQ, helping direct other, more capable heroes, to where the meteors were headed for Earth. They had the nicest facilities he had ever seen. Training rooms, a cafeteria, an infirmary, you name it, they had it! They even had indoor plumbing and air conditioning! Bubba had basalt walls and bat guano. No, he certainly wasn't looking forward to going home.

As he got closer, he could hear the unmistakable sounds of cheering and construction going on. Lots of cheering and lots of construction! The voices sounded like his little yellow buddies, but there were so many of them. As he got closer, he found his three little friends, once helpless and saved only by a bag of banana chips, had multiplied into a veritable army of little yellow workers all building something around the mouth of the cave. It was a giant metal door with a basalt veneer that looked just like the rock wall and hid the entrance perfectly!

Upon his arrival, his 3 little buddies cheered, followed shortly by the rest of their friends cheering as well at Bubba's return.

"BOSS!!!! YEAH!!!! BOSS IS BACK!!!!"

As the rest continued working, the three originals then led him on a tour of all the new improvements they made while he was gone. There was a cafeteria, a training room, an infirmary, and a host of other additions. Not only that, the group had been hard at work building underground tunnels to other HQs they had built all across the country, with an express Rakly Industries patented Magnarailgun Train system to get them instantly from one to the other in no time. Bubba couldn't believe his eyes! This was everything he could have ever dreamed for. Eat your heart out Bruce! He just had one question.

"This is great, guys! I can't believe what you've accomplished while I was gone!" he said.

"YAY!" they screamed. "WOOHOO!" "It's been a long trip though." he continued. "Where's the bathroom at?"

"Bathroom?" they said as they looked at each other in confusion, "Uh...... heh........" before arguing over who's fault it was that there was no bathroom...........

The End.

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FAN-FICTION: Negatron The Equalizer

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The alarms were blaring. Someone was attacking Chaos Theory HQ. Mayor Justice looked at the security monitors to see what was happening. A wall on the East Wing had just been breached with an explosion. As the dust settled, the Mayor could see the lone image of a man dressed in body armor. Was this one of the World Corps? It couldn't be. They acted in units, not as lone individuals. The Mayor didn't recognize him, but he gave him credit for having balls the size of watermelons to try attacking this League.

"We have a breach in the East Wing." the Mayor sounded over the comlinks. "So far I am only placing one assailant on our security cameras."

"I'm on it." Super Rakly replied back as he raced to greet their uninvited guest.

Alongside him slithered the giant serpentine form of Midgardsormr.

"Neo and I are already closing in." Old Man Hanzo answered back.

"Good." said the Mayor. "You 4 should be able to make short work of this guy. "Starcrawler, Punlork, and Heretic check the perimeter. I doubt this guy came alone. I'll sit here and watch just in case I see anything else."

"Already ahead of you." said Heretic as Magnificent Punlork and Starcrawler joined him to patrol the area around the HQ for any other signs of intrusion.

By the time Rakly and Midgardsormr reached the intruder, the two Hanzos had already made it there. The two watched in horror as the Hanzos ran towards the villain, just to melt into two black puddles of goo before they could get even close. The villain laughed maniacally.

"You heroes are no match for me!" he taunted the two remaining heroes. "All your might and power are useless before me, NEGATRON THE EQUALIZER!"

"USELESS????" roared Midgardsormr as he charged in. "YOU'LL KNOW FULL WELL WHAT USELESS IS ALL ABOUT AFTER I'M DONE WITH YOU!!!!"

"Midgard, wait!" Rakly yelled, too late. The great serpent fell to his knees where once there were none, his form now that of a mere mortal human. Taking advantage of Midgard's confusion, Negatron landed two swift punches and a kick to the once giant serpent's head, laying him low and unconscious.

"What the hell?" muttered Rakly in disbelief. Never had he seen any of these leaguemates fall so easily. Who was this guy and what exactly were his powers? Rakly spoke over his comlink once more.

"I need all hands available or not!" Rakly commanded. "This guy just cut through Midgard and both Hanzos like they were butter!"

"The perimeter looks clear." Heretic replied. "We'll head your way to provide backup. What kind of intel do we have? What are his powers?"

"..........................."

"Hello? Hello?" Heretic attempted to get a response. "Rakly, you there? $#!+........" before racing to the outside wall of the East Wing with Punlork and Starcrawler. There they saw the large hole the intruder had made. Punlork spotted the intruder just as he dropped the limp body of Super Rakly to the floor.

"AHHHHH!!!!!" he screamed as he fired two energy blasts from his hands, just to watch as they fizzled out and disappeared before reaching their target. Equally as puzzled as Midgardsormr had been before him, Punlork looked at his hands questioningly, before trying a second time with similar results. And again, confusion took hold of him and Negatron took advantage, quickly knocking him out with a whirlwind of acrobatic kicks and strikes.

"My readings indicate he isn't showing any signs of powers. There's no energy signatures at all." Starcrawler told Heretic. "It doesn't make sense how he is defeating us. For all intents and purposes, he's only a regular human."

"Oh, I'm no regular human, supes." Negatron said. "I've spent my entire life mastering every form of fighting there is. No one can beat me in hand to hand combat. NO ONE!"

"No one, huh?" Heretic quipped back as he began to step forward.

"If all you are is a regular human, even with an unmatched mastery of martial arts, there's no way you could defeat those of us that you already have." Starcrawler exclaimed. "How were you able to turn the Hanzos into puddles, Midgard human, and deflect Punlork's energy blasts? No martial arts teaches that!"

"I told you already." Negatron smirked. "I'm no regular human. I'm just like you. But my power is to negate other's powers. You supes are so reliant on your powers, you're worthless without them. You become easier victims than regular humans, even. The shapeshifters simply reverted to their unpowered form, a shapeless colony of cells. The world serpent lost his enchantment and became human once more. Your fallen friend's energy blasts shorted out as soon as they got within my area of effect. After that, it is simple enough to just walk right up to you and beat you senseless."

"Oh really?" replied Heretic. "Well, you're not the only one here that knows hand to hand combat. And I promise you, I won't be turning into a puddle of goo either." Heretic unsheathed his katana and he and Starcrawler rushed Negatron.

From the safety of the security room, Mayor Justice continued to watch the monitors as Heretic and Starcrawler also fell unceremoniously to this new super powered villain..... or is it de super powered villain???? Even though Heretic was a physical fighter, he benefited from the speed, strength, and enhanced durability his powers normally gave him, a luxury he lacked in this fight. Starcrawler likewise fell. The electronics and circuitry in his Super Rakly designed suit were seemingly affected just the same as his powers. No doubt this is what caused Rakly to fall too.

"Um..... guys????" the Mayor querried over the comlinks. "Is anyone still out there? I'm running out of people to send. Is anyone out there?"

Avenger and Calibos arrived next. They had been off on a surveillance mission when they got the notification.

"We're inbound and closing in on the target." Avenger answered.

"Oh, thank God!" exclaimed Mayor Justice. "I thought I was going to have to go out there and you know, I just got my hands manicured. It would be a travesty if I chipped a nail after that lady spent so much time on them."

"Don't worry, Mayor." Avenger replied. "We'll handle thi......SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The comlink went dead with white noise. Mayor Justice looked frantically at the monitors to see both Avenger and Calibos unconscious at Negatron's feet.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Mayor Justice paced the floor. "What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? There's no one left but me???? F@#%!!!!"

"Don't worry, Mayor. I got this." came an unexpected voice from a broom closet. Looking to see who it was, the Mayor laid eyes on G.S., the janitor.

"What do you think you're gonna do?" asked the Mayor. "You're just a janitor! You don't even have super powers! Look at the rest of the team! He took them all out and they have powers! You don't! What are you gonna do????"

"Just leave that to me, Mayor." answered G.S. as he opened the door to the security room and walked out towards the East Wing.

"Ok, hero!" mocked the Mayor, as he quickly locked the door again. "You go make his day. I have no doubt you'll succeed where everyone else failed. Better you than me! Good luck! I'll be in here if you change your mind!"

G.S. slowly and deliberately walked the halls to the East Wing where he found Negatron, the uncoscious forms of Chaos Theory scattered between them.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" laughed Negatron at the sight of a regular human janitor walking up to face him. "Oh ho! They must be getting desperate. You don't even have any powers! Don't you see your fallen comrades? What hope do you have of besting me? Go home to your wife and kids. Save yourself. Let them send someone worthy to fight me! Where are all the great super powered heroes? Where are the gods and monsters????"

"I'm your hucklebearer." replied G.S. before flipping his coat followed by a loud "BANG!!!!" that echoed through the halls. Negatron tried to say something, but the words stuck in his throat and wouldn't leave. He felt his knees buckle and the ground suddenly rushed up to meet him. As he lay there on the ground, unable to move, he watched as the boots of the man he just faced casually walked up to where he lay.

G.S. squatted down and lifted his cowboy hat with the barrel of his 6 shooter, as Negatron The Equalizer labored the word "How?" to escape from his lips.

"You see, partner," G.S. replied, "I never needed super powers to take down a cocky ass like you. In a world full of super powered villains and heroes, I didn't get the name Gunslinger for nothing."

https://youtu.be/AFa1-kciCb4

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Power Leveling

So, you're thinking about packing on some levels. Maybe you want to gain a level advantage over an opponent during League Wars. Maybe you want to push to the next gear slot. Whatever your reason is, you've decided it's your time to roll. You've seen other players fly up the levels in very short order, but perhaps aren't quite sure how.

First off, power leveling isn't commonly recommended. It puts a lot of levels on that need to be filled with powers and possibly more gear. In a lot of events, overall power is pushed to the side in favor of power for one's level. So before you decide you want to power level, make sure it's not a bad idea first. Most successful power levelers are fairly big budget toons. They are able to offset the quick addition of empty levels by buying power and gear cards to fill them. Others may have a back stock of cards that allow them to keep their decks and gear filled even before they add those new levels. Whatever you do, make sure you are able to fill those new power and gear card openings as quickly as possible, or else suffer being weak for your level until you do. For every level you gain, you will also have to add fifteen cards to your deck; 5 Att, 5 Def, and 5 Move cards. A dedicated power leveler can pack on 40 levels in a day fairly easily. That's 600 powers they will need to acquire just for that one day's worth of power leveling. And that's just for one day. Multiply that by one week and we are looking at adding 4200 powers to fill your deck. Then there's tiering........... So, all in all, is it worth it? For the average player in the average scenarios, the answer is probably no. But in certain niche instances, like post sign up pre League Wars, or to a player that has the want and means to build a toon fast, or someone building a utility alt, it can be a very handy tool. But how do those guys manage those insane leveling feats?

First, you need to identify where and how you can get experience as efficiently as possible. For example, raiding gives you an experience return ratio of 1 exp point per energy spent. Meanwhile, most Missions do 2, 3, or 4 exp points per energy spent. When it comes to fights, the higher level toons you can beat will provide more experience than lower level toons IF you can beat them. Furthermore, fighting someone in a regular duel usually provides a lot more experience than fighting them in a King of the Mountain/Climb event. So picking where you farm exp points is important.

Now, analyze where you can gain experience from not immediately obvious sources. You gain experience from doing your Daily Login and Daily Missions. You gain experience from Boss fights, found on both the Missions and Patrol pages. You want to have these ready and save these for when you start your experience run sessions.

Next, you want to figure out how to multiply the exp points you do gain. One way is by building an HQ and build up the Training Grounds building. This can increase your exp point gain by as much as 13%. Combined with other methods, this can end up packing on exp points fairly quickly.

Cons are another big focus. There are many, many cons one can use when power leveling to increase their exp point gain. Some, like the 3 versions of Liquid Learning, can be found in the store regularly. Other cons, like the Cogitator, Weighted Clothing and others pop up from time to time in the store as well. So keep a vigilant eye out there. Who knows what goodies might appear there from day to day. Experience cons can also be found doing patrols, both as a reward and in the Black Market. Some patrols, like Detroit, are more prone to give exp cons.

One special experience con you should consider are holiday cons. These come in the form of Christmas or Birthday cards, Easter eggs, and the like, and are mined by searching various pages in the game during special events. No two of these cons are the same. And because you can stack any cons that aren't the exact same con, you can stack ALL of these for a super fast, short but sweet, power leveling session. Combined with your other experience cons collected, you can hit the stratosphere in no time.

Other cons that help and should be looked into for stackability, are those that give more energy and fights, or increase the rate at which you acquire them. More fights means more experience. Same with more energy. Be forewarned, these cons are best used at the tail end of a power leveling session. This is because you will be leveling so fast, your fights and energy will refresh too quickly to make using these cons worth it, right off. But as your experience gain begins to dramatically slow, and you are now waiting on energy and fights to get to the next level, go ahead and start using these cons too. Just avoid using them when you're going to be filling up your resource banks to full using other means. Another potentially useful game mechanic is purchasing energy refills. These cost 5 mp each time and there is a limit based on your level. Luckily, you're power leveling, so that limit is constantly increasing. Now, for most people this is an expensive and wasteful use of MP. But for a handful of players out there with large energy banks, it can make a huge difference. Now, I probably wouldn't use energy refills to power level if my energy bank only goes up to 30, like most toons. But I do have some toons that have a considerably larger energy bank. One of my competition toons has 125 energy per fill up. 5 MP for 125 energy might not be a bad cost in some people's minds. Even better than that, I have a couple utility toons with well over a thousand energy. At 5 MP per refill, that becomes a really good bargain. To be honest, my largest energy bank, at 1374 energy, can level non stop using mp energy refills, while simply doing nothing but 1 energy Missions, and paying for those refills off the 1 mp Mission rewards that occasionally pop up. That certainly makes using mp energy refills worth it.

Ok, so now you know how to get the most experience per action. Now it's time to pick a date and time. Naturally, you want to pick them based on your schedule. But certain dates and times are better than others. Let's take a look.

At the start of a new game day, the Duels lists reset. If you save your duels that net you the most experience till the end of the day, and then switch on your cons, you can hit those valuable opponents once before the day ends, and again right after the day starts, doubling your access to large, quick quantities of Duels gained experience in the time your cons are active. Most of the top players that power level use this method. Another time to consider is just before noon game time. Consumables usage refreshes at noon. So you can save your cons till shortly before noon, pop your cons shortly before noon, and then burn through those gifts and consumables that provide energy and fights to gain experience. Then, once noon hits, you can immediately do it again with a whole new set of gifts and cons. Both methods allow you to pack as much experience gain into one set of stacked exp cons as possible.

Next, you might want to consider the day. While, again, that's entirely up to your schedule availability, there is now a new semi monthly event that definitely gives you better opportunity than other days. That event is called Item Explosion and allows you to use 10x the gifts and cons in a day as you normally would. That allows you a lot more fights and energy to gain experience points with.

Different experience cons provide different periods of effect. Pay close attention to this. How many cons and which ones you have running will determine how quickly you level per action. If it only takes 5 fights hitting the top toons to gain a level, you lose 9 fights and all your energy when you level. That's missed opportunity. You really want to spend all your energy and fights from leveling up before you level up again. 1st use up your energy. Next use your fights, but pay special close attention to how close or far away you are from leveling, and pick your fight opponents to level you up just as you use your last fight. If you go under by a little bit, that's ok. It's actually better than wasting resources. Just recalculate that into your head for the future and use one of the gifts or cons that add fights or energy to top off to the next level.

Take advantage of your Red Cape cons too. If you don't have any, they can be gotten in the Black Market, or more easily from the Punch Card store found on the Raids page. Without really trying too hard, I was averaging 40 levels a day when power leveling until I got within 100 levels of the level cap. With a red cape, that equates to 1200 mp each power level session. Yes, please!

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan Presents: Where In The Hellish Loincloth Is It????

25104

Well, last month we were given a special hidden NPC Boss character to fight in the form of The Shadow Krampus. This was a neat surprise for those who have achieved level 700 or higher. Unfortunately, you can only defeat him once, and therefore can only ever acquire the epic ring he awards once too. Keep that in mind and don't ever sell it, trade it, or give it away if you should ever get it. But that's not the only secret that Heroes Rising holds for players. Here and there, littered through the game are special pieces of gear that drop only ever rarely. Some even moreso than others. For most of these, it will be a piece of gear easily recognizable from others by the picture. But there are a few pieces that are actually upgraded or variant versions of other drops. They are usually simply a "Silver" or "Gold" version of a much more common drop. Most of the "Gold" and "Silver" gear variants aren't that impressive, but there's one that most certainly is. The question is, where do you find it?



I have a large number of toons. Most are utility alts that I pay little to no attention to competitively. But because they do large numbers of certain actions in game, to farm specific resources, they sometimes unwittingly unlock a special case scenario. One of my utility alt toons somehow managed to gain a very rare and very useful piece of gear I didn't know existed. Unfortunately, I don't know when or where I acquired it. I simply saw in my inventory that I had 2 different Hellish Loincloths. The one I only had one of was called "Gold Hellish Loincloth" and had nicely improved stats over the more common variant.

Instead of a 3% Life bonus, it gave 5%. That's a 66% increase. For any toon that has a large Life build, that isn't too shabby either. My highest level toon has a Base Life of 3,100. At 3% that comes out 93 extra Life. But at 5%, that comes out to 155 extra Life. Not too shabby.

Instead of the regular 20 Stun Resist, it gives 30. 20 is already huge for Stun Resist. The Gold version adds 50% more! Now, as everyone has heard me say before, I can't stress enough how important Stun Resist is in a build. If you don't have it, anyone with a large amount of Stun will eat your lunch. In the past, Stun Resist was very limited in where you could get it, most commonly found and utilized in head gear. However, there are some other valuable head gear pieces out there you might want to utilize. By adding Stun Resist in a leg slot or two, you open up your head slot for something potentially better for your build overall. This factor right here makes this piece of gear of high value to anyone.

Lastly, it gives 19 Physical Resist vs the regular version's 15 Physical Resist. It's only 4 more points but that's still over a 25% increase.

This piece of gear is very much worth finding. Unfortunately, therein lies the issue. Where do we find it? Do you know? I don't. If you do, please reach out and let me know. I have been hunting it for some time now with no luck. The normal version is a common drop when fighting either the Patrol or Mission Boss versions of Skelanimal. But where it lists what awards are possible, it never shows this piece of gear. It's possible there is even a Silver version I just don't know about, though it wouldn't be as nice as the Gold one. I have fought both these versions of Skelanimal at every level and still no Gold Hellish Loincloths have dropped. If you know the secret, please reach out to me or write an article detailing it yourself. You'll get MP, and I think many a budget player would be served.

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Player PoV: Don't Take It Personally

25104

Often I see players get upset they were attacked by a teammate or leaguemate. Sometimes even over people hitting them that aren't connected to them in any way. First off, this is a fighting game. Fighting each other is part of what we do here. It isn't personal. It's just game play. Fighting helps toons gain experience, which in turn helps make the toon stronger. You want your toon to get stronger. Likewise, you want your friends and teammates toons to get stronger too. Avoiding each other doesn't serve this purpose. It only penalizes you. Instead of hitting that toon, you have to hit one that gives fewer experience points. Now that's fine if you aren't trying to level, but if that's the case, you probably shouldn't be attacking anyone above level one anyway. If you are leveling though, and you avoid all your friends and teammates, before long you're missing out on hundreds or even thousands of experience points a day. I estimate that if I avoided all my teammates and friends everyday, I would probably lose out on a good 10k in experience points a day. That's a lot. Now, lower level players will miss out on less. I'm level 750+. But I think you get the point. Furthermore, losing a fight when someone attacks you, outside of events and tournaments, in no way harms you or your ability to grow and succeed in the game. The only thing it does is changes the vs score between your toon and that toon. That's it. That's nothing. Certainly not something to get upset about. In the top levels of play, friends and teammates attack each other all the time. They do this for experience as well as to test gear setups, and just generally hone their skills and knowledge. In fact, if I am testing a LWs suit and studying the fight feed to look for where it needs tweaking, it might be a better idea to attack a friend so my tournament opponents can't analyze my suit before I use it on them. If none of this still makes little or no sense to you, let's put it into a real world perspective. When sport fighters train for big matches or tournaments, they practice and spar with their teammates and gym trainers, their friends, guys they know, a LOT, before they ever step into the ring with their intended opponent. Those guys are friends and they're really hitting each other. Why? To get better for when it really matters. The same holds true for police and soldiers. They train against each other....... a LOT........ BEFORE they go fight the bad guys. If they didn't, the bad guys might wipe the floor with them. If you're not training with your friends and teammates, you're not properly preparing yourself to fight those that are.

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Gear Talk With Fuma Hanzo

Toon ID: 10950

What a month it's been already for gear, and we're only 2 days in!!!!

Let's recap. If we include last month, a few new Shuffle pieces have entered the arena, as well as a new Sidekick given in raids and as a special award for Trick or Treat Hosts that gave generously. Let's take a look at those 1st, starting with the new SK.

Pumpkin Lord

I'll be honest. Competitively, it isn't an uber piece of gear. It's ok but certainly not a must have. Only a few players got it from the raids. Most that did acquire it got it as a reward for treat gifting during the Trick or Treat event. Let's be real. Most of those guys have better Sidekicks, or at least can afford them. Now, despite not being a Sidekick I would use during serious competitive play, I still had to have it because I'm probably HR's biggest Halloween fan, and it's a pumpkin. One of my Halloween personas is a Jack-o-lantern Lich. But for those who are short on Sidekicks, it's not a bad one either. It's better than most of the SKs one gets from the 50 day login, with Orcus possibly being the one exception. It is also superior to most of the other Sidekicks acquired through AMA or Raids, with Fides and Crimson edging him out only because of their Poison effects. The only other 2 SKs that I can say are better would be E.B. and Werewolf, both of which could be argued to the contrary. Which brings us to our next piece.

Werewolf

I have to say this is definitely one of the best Sidekicks to hit the game. And it is easily accessible to everyone. With a hefty amount of Plus damage, and a healthy dose of Stun and Block Redux, this SK is the gift that keeps on giving. I wouldn't be opposed to filling every SK slot with just multiples of this guy.

OB-1

Another SK to hit the game last month was OB-1. This guy will find more value in limited deck events like Duels, thanks to his +1000 Att. But even outside of short deck events, this SK packs a punch with 20 damage, and keeps your toon healthy longer with his Regeneration abilities. This SK will serve lower levels better than higher level players, but is still great in any toon's arsenal, especially in multiples.

Tribal Goblin 

One last SK to hit the arena this past month was Tribal Goblin. With only 5 stun really going for him, he won't be that useful in unlimited deck fights. However, his 3500 Def will help out very low level toons and provide hard to come by Def stats to any toon for limited deck events. Honestly, unless you just don't have anything else to go for, or are building specifically for Duels, I would avoid this 50 Day reward in favor of others. If you need a SK, take a look at Orcus. In my opinion, Orcus is the best SK from the 50 Day Login rewards.

Grimdark Walkers

These boots are found in the Shuffle. I will do a separate article on the Shuffle, but for now wanted to draw special attention to this piece of gear. With a drop rate of 0.5%, this will not be a common piece, nor will it be easy to get. But if you can, I suggest you do. This is truly an epic piece of gear. It is one of two pieces of gear that should have everyone excited, with the other being the new Raid core we'll be discussing a little later. It provides 4 stats, 2 of which are in phenomenal quantities. With 18% Move and 12 Poison, that alone is enough for me to want it on my toon. But on top of that, it also has Block Steal and a little bit of Life. Honestly, if this were a LWs prize, I would be tripping the Mayor in front of Grizzly Bears to get it.

Frozen Gauntlets

Found alongside Jack's Icy Gaze, the Frozen Gauntlets are found in the Abominable Yetti Raid. These arms offer Move Redux. That means every time that effect goes off, it gets easier to hit your opponent next time. With a healthy dose of Plus Damage and Aura Damage, this arm is always hitting hard, even when it isn't hitting.

Bone Claws

Found in the Skelanimal Raid, these are great for the free or budget player, and even some niche builds. It certainly isn't a bad piece. It gives a nice bit of Plus Damage and 2x Damage, as well as adds % Def, which scales up as your stats do. So this piece is good at any level.

Bone Bound Chest

We don't get a lot of choices when it comes to cores, so we usually take what we can get. But this is no mere filler piece. Found in the Skelanimal Raid, this is, without a doubt in my mind, THE best core in the game. It breaks away from traditional resistance, only resisting Physical, and only for 20, but holy cow are its other stats are sick. At 18% Block Steal, this can quickly turn a fight around by flipping the script on your opponent when it comes to stats. Furthermore, the 12 Poison is HUGE. Coupled with the Grimdark Walkers mentioned earlier, and now you're running 1 in 4 odds of poisoning your opponent, each hit. And once they're poisoned, unless they have the proper counter measures, they have 10 steps to figure out how to beat you or they're dead. Even alcoholics get 12 steps.

AMA Scrapyard

Another big addition this past month was the switching out of AMA gear with a fresh new set. I have to say, I'm really impressed with this batch of AMA options. Aside from gear and a new card, Raid Tokens can also be found there. Now, before we move on, AMA gear will rarely make it into a pay player's arsenal. So my value for them diminishes greatly from other sources of gear. Still, there are some nice pieces in there, and for some of you, they may be your best options. That said, you might find more value in these than I do. Let's take a look, shall we? Just remember, I am measuring all gear against all other gear. So MP gear will usually always get a better critique, while "free" gear will ofen get a worse one.

Lives Counter

Poison has long been considered OP, especially against toons that put a lot of skill points and gear into Life. For a long time, there has been little in the way of countermeasures. The Lives Counter fills this role on a budget by providing an MP free option to resist Poison. It is further made valuable for high life toons, those most prone to have poison used against them, by adding 4% Life, a stat that only continues to improve as a toon's base Life stat improves.

Obsidian Ring

The Obsidian Ring brings a new option to Stun Resist. Previously only found in 3 head gear, 1 crystal core, and 1 Mission/Patrol leg, having one in the very versatile position of a ring slot brings more versatility to your builds. The resist is only 8, but you have 10 ring slots to work with at current max limits. Add in the +4 Regeneration and this isn't a bad ring to fill out one's Stun Resist needs. This ring also plays well in limited deck events thanks to the 1000 Def it provides.

Keradon

This Sidekick is 1 of 3 in the AMA store right now. It does provide constant residual damage in the form of 7 Tech Aura. To be completely honest, this is a budget player's SK. I would get it only because I had extra AMA and needed to fill a Sidekick slot. The 2X Dam is nice, but imo, if one wishes to include X Damage, they should focus on 3X. 2X Damage should only play a part as extra insurance that some kind of damage multiplier will go off if the 3X fails. It still might make for good use among lower level players that can more easily accumulate useful quantities of 2X damage than they can 3X, but imo I would go after the 50 Day Login Orcus before I went after this one.

Red Ant

The only thing that maes me turn my eye to this SK at all is that it is Mental, and as far as today goes, the Mental SKs are few and far between. The initiative is negligible. It does decent damage, but unless you just need a Mental SK, there are plenty of better options.

Shocklite

While I am a fan of 3X Damage, at a mere 2% proc rate, it doesn't do much to move the likelihood of your 3X going off. Even if you put 5 of them on, that's still only 10%. That's a lot of space for 10% 3X Damage. It does add an additional, but minor Plus Damage of 6, but even that doesn't help make this much better.

Chainmail Kilt

For a non MP piece of gear, this really isn't that bad. It does have some good use, just not in lieu of other options. The combined Initiative and Disrupt Aura do give it value, despite the Move modifier being fairly low. Being a blanket Aura resist, it has broad value, usable against more opponents than specific Aura type resists. I think this piece can find use in any player's arsenal.

Coil Helm

For a "free" gear, this one certainly is nice. It packs a solid amount of Plus Damage for a "free" piece. Add in some decent Def Redux and this piece is really effective for the cost. Alot of MP monsters will pass this one up, but if you're not one of those, I suggest adding this to your arsenal. Not a premier piece, but definitely has value in niche uses.

Silver Hook

ARRRRRRR!!!! You know a former Pirate King is going to love anything to do with Pirates. But even if it was the Wristwatch of Mr. Magoo, I'd still like this arm. This arm provides a healthy dose of Def Redux AND a healthy dose of 3X Damage. That alone has me looking at Justin and crew with the thought they had me and my build style in mind when they created it. Add in a little Plus Damage and this gear is over the top. I can definitely see it being a staple in many player's builds, mine included.

Steal Greaves

This piece is missing a staple in legs, Movement. But what it's lacking, it makes up for in a very high Def modifier, and phenomenal Mental resist for a "free" piece. I won't say I would put it in regular use, but against specific opponents, that high a Mental resist could come in handy in a leg slot. I will likely add a few of them to my arsenal, just in case an opponent with heavy Mental Damage gets a little too hard to beat. I do think this one should be in everyone's arsenal if they can afford it, but only as an option and only after they have acquired those gear pieces they will be using regularly. This is a niche piece, but a good one.

Well, I hope this Gear Talk has been useful to you. I will discuss the Shuffle further next week. Till then, keep grinding!

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RAIDS!!!! Free Play Just Got Way Better!!!!

Player ID: 25104

Well, October is over. But before we move on, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on last month. There was a writing contest, a costume contest, a take a picture with a box on your head contest, a raid, a lws, and even trick or treating. Some folks gave out some really big treats for trick or treat. I got about 8 pieces of gear I can really use on my newest toon, just from trick or treat. Just from the contests and giveaways, I managed to acquire about $100 worth of MP. And honestly, I probably spent less than 2 hours total acquiring them. That's pretty big, especially for free and budget players. I'm neither, and that's still big to me. So there are all kinds of options for players of all categories to gain the means to grow, not just stronger, but competitive as well. Which brings me to the newest method, RAIDS!!!!

While we have had world raids for awhile now, the much begged for player summoned raids have just now hit Heroes Rising. These raids go fast, in their current incarnation. The 1st 3 were finished within hours, despite the 2 day timer. Once more players start rolling in, this will only compound itself. I feel there's one of 2 options here for players to get enough damage in to see good rewards. Either Justin will have to increase the life of Raid Bosses, or else players will have to start limiting who they share raids with. I'm hoping for the former. Still, these raids are still in the beta test format, so who knows what changes are to come? We can be sure of one thing though. Justin will soon be on the boards asking us for our opinions and suggestions.

Now, early mumbling seems to revolve around players not getting as good or as many drops as they would like. Let's take things into perspective though. These aren't World Raids. Unlike World Raids, that come every 3 months or so, these raids can be summoned whenever and as often as we have materials for. As soon as they launched, we had 3 going and done within hours. So if you didn't get that raid drop you wanted, keep raiding. It'll come in time. In the mean time, the cards are great. Most are crystal cards, so tiering them up costs no MP. And they're GOOD crystal cards! The MP cards are also pretty top notch for prize cards. I have a feeling a lot of players will be able to go a long way with their toons if they combine and work at Raids and FC.

I'll be honest, I felt like I was playing SHC again when the Mayor summoned that 2nd Raid. Ever since Justin took over, things have been getting better. Instead of feeling like a fool's prison, it's starting to feel like home. I expect Raids will make a lot of people happy and hopefully be a trumpet call to those who have already left and those who never came, to finally return home too. I earnestly look forward to what else Justin brings to the table. I do have a little bit of an inside scoop, and I can assure you that Raids are just the beginning. It's about to get wild up in here! I hope I see the rest of you here with me once all the dust settles.

Also, a big shoutout to Justin! Thanks Justin! You're the REAL MVP!!!!

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The Mountain Before You

By: 25104

Well, League Wars is over. Some are elated with celebration. Others crushed with defeat. Sometimes, it can be a daunting task looking at other players and teams and seeing the mountain that lays between you and victory. Maybe they spend more money. Maybe they spend more time playing. Maybe any number of things. And one might ask themselves, what is the point? I can't beat this daunting opponent before me. But that's not true. While it is true I spend more than many, the truth is, at the level I play at, among the likes of Avengers, Villains Inc., OG WMD, and Chaos Theory, I'm the budget toon. But I still find success through a combination of smaller quantities of money, time spent playing, and time spent studying and contemplating all aspects of the game. Players like Javee/Stinkfist have proven one can be successful and a champion with no money at all. I recently built a toon in under 3 months for less than $1k (much of which was spent on HQs and teammates) that holds its own against 4 year old toons with $5k+ invested in them. A lot of folks will tell you these mountains can't be climbed. I'm telling you they can. The difference between them and guys like Javee or myself is they say it can't be done, while we say watch us make it happen. That, an openess to study and learn, and an attention for detail are really all it takes.

Back in my 20s, I used to play table top miniatures war games. I was well known in Texas because I traveled all over it looking for an opponent that could beat me. I was a world champion later, so it was a tough search. I went into a venue to compete and most knew who I was, except this one older guy in a wheelchair missing a foot. Everyone told him before our match I was unbeatable. Before our match, he watched me wipe out every opponent within minutes of starting each hour long round. It would have been easy for him to give up faced against a giant that was on his way to becoming a world champ. But that's not what happened. Instead, he used equipment in his army no one had ever used effectively in my presence before. I smirked at his army, confident in my assured victory. He quietly, and humbly played his army against mine. We went the whole hour. When the points were counted up, even though I had killed more troops, he killed more points. He won. It was the best battle of my entire career in the game, and I lost to some guy no one knew who couldn't afford to travel to compete in state, national, or world championships. Just some regular poor Joe, missing a foot and in a wheelchair, against all odds, took out someone who was soon to be crowned the best in the world.

There's a now famous painting called "Checkmate". It shows a man playing chess against the devil. He is clearly distraught because he is about to lose. During a showing of this painting, a chess world champion took interest in the painting and stated either the painting needs to be redone, or else the name changed, because, as far as the world champion chess player was concerned, the man had 1 more move that would instead give him victory.

Sometimes,....... OFTEN, the devil is in the details. Victory is found in looking closely and seeing what others don't. A lot of my victories in games or life didn't come because I was better. They came because I was dedicated. Because I was willing to study harder and learn, really explore possibilities. And when it came time to compete, perhaps my tools weren't as expensive as my competition's, but I had more of them. So when you look at that mountain, and you can't see victory, keep looking. Keep looking for what everyone else isn't seeing.

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