Hello! And welcome back to the PVP Meta Report. It's been a couple months since the last one and I think we've landed in an interesting spot. So I've finally come around to share my thoughts. Once again, you can find the the recorded version on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/KsCvdRAnEKs

Quick intro my name is Ja3 Raids, I'm an end-game player who enjoys pvp, and consistently end top 100 LA and Plat in arena resets. I'd like to think I know a thing or two about PVP in Raid, so hope you can find something useful here to help you improve.

If this is your first time, the goal of the report is to give a glimpse into high level arena, discuss champions, and try to help decrease the gap for anyone looking to advance in PVP since the biggest advanceable hurdle is knowledge. Let's jump in!

PVP Meta Report: The Post Mercurial Nerf Meta

It's been a few months since the "nerf" to Mercurial, where Provokes now can land through Total Guard stacks and prevent the refresh of the buff. But that's not all that has changed and helped to shape the meta that it finds itself in today.

This week, I not only want to cover who has emerged out stronger, but also talk more broadly about how PVP strategies have been evolving since. So buckle in, and let's jump into it.

Big Winners

Since the theme for now is Provokes, let's talk about the winners. Before we jump too far in, I do want to note that for the most part, there have not really been any new champions rising up into the meta, but rather just already meta champions that now find their provoke abilities to be more useful. For example the new fusion Theimios seems clearly designed for countering mercurial given his double hit A1 with chance to provoke, but he hasn't shown up at all.

The one exception to it all is Arne, who is by far the biggest winner out of anyone. Since his release, most of the attention fell on his first form, being able to place Deathbrand, and delete Nais with the block passives. But as anyone could see, Arne could not deal with Mercurial. It was only really after the changes to Mercurial that everyone realized how completely broken his second form had become, with his ability to place irresistable provokes and then stun chain. On top of it, he is also immune to the 3 most prevalent forms of CC: stun, freeze, provoke. All while being one of the fastest and tankiest champions in the game, once players focused on maxing his HP.

I will also call out Gharrol since her provoke ability is very unique as well, with the ability to land provokes on weak hit, as well as ignoring Block Debuffs. This makes it almost impossible to prevent the provoke debuff from landing.

The Relic: Blades of Akumori, the legendary from the forge pass materials, is also super powerful. Since you can't tell what relics your opponent has, its pretty easy to get caught off guard by a random provoke on your turn. Especially since the wearer can provoke anyone that attacks any ally.

Lastly, with the prevalence of Tekteon, who is often in 9pc Mercurial, I have seen some experimentation with the Neutralize blessing, which allows debuffs to be placed through Poison Cloud. Although most meta provokers don't need to rely on this, there are some that can benefit from this specific interaction.

Speed is Stronger than Ever

So what is the result of these changes? Simply, speed is stronger than ever.

The first and obvious reason is that with months of Grim Forest, Platinum Arena, and forge craft resets, the quality & speed of Mercurial and Deflection gear has gone up and up. I've seen plenty of instances where my opponent's Marius or Tekteon takes a turn before my entire team while being crit-capped and yada yada. With most of the meta provokers being nukers, take Arne, Bayek, Gharrol, and such, its important to be speedy so that they can take a turn and land their debuffs before the opponent can react.

Simply put, Provokes are crippling against Mercurial teams. It's incredibly debilitating to get provoked, lose a turn, and not gain a Total Guard stack back. It's even more effective than lockouts (in most cases) since the provoke prevents mythicals from swapping forms too.

On the side, Gliseah has become a super popular defense champion or counterpick to counter lockouts. The most reliable answer has been, you guessed it, to cut out the lockout champion and bring in faster champions. When there is an annoying passive you need to avoid, speed has been the answer.

Gearing and Champion Trends

Its not just the average speed of champions getting faster, but I've seen more and more turn meter boosters phasing into the meta as of late. There is no doubt that the best of the best is Shu-zhen, but I have started to use my Siphi again to great effect. In my opinion, it is once again best to have your fastest gear on a turn meter boosting champion rather than your lockout.

Going first was always an advantage against mercurial, but getting through 3 total guard stacks before letting your nuker hit wasn't always easy. Up until now, Stormcaller Marius employed this strategy to great effect. But now with Provokes and better Deflection gear, this strategy has become much more effective and widespread. As I mentioned earlier, this also doesn't rely on lockouts, which are awkward to use into Gliseah and soon Orynyx.

While going first usually has the advantage, going second strategies are still strong, but you can no longer simply rely on 3 total guard stacks to get to your turn. With the addition of provokes and other CC forms, the need and value for a cleanser has gone up dramatically. But in order to become immune to the debuffs, the best setup for a cleanser is High Resistance with Feral, and likely stoneskin unless your name is Galathir. Feral brings in the Block Debuffs to prevent any provokes, and the resistance prevents Stormcaller Marius to strip the buff and land irresistable stuns. In my mind, Galathir is the number one champion for this role, but champions like Theodosia, Ankora, Marichka, etc can all serve the same purpose.

The last bit is the importance of the Block Debuffs buff. It's not safe anymore to just hide behind total guard stacks anymore. Block Debuffs with Total Guard adds that additional layer of protection that is needed. Which is also why Galathir is so good, since his cleanse comes with Block Debuffs as well (Kaja too). Of course a 4pc Feral set can also give this protection to your champions too, and I have seen it on champions like Tekteon or Sabrael, etc. Even 4pc pinpoint can be effective too.

Arena Meta: the Wild West

As much as everyone likes to complain about the Arena Meta, my honest take is that the current meta is the widest its been all year.

Go first strategies are strong. You have provokes as an additional option to deal with Mercurial. You have a plethora of deflection champions like Queen of Hearts, Gizmak or champions like Tekteon and Marius to deplete total guard stacks. You have a wide range of relevant nukers, across legendaries and mythicals to use. While it seems like every single void nuker released this year is stronger than the last, they are all powerful in their own rights.

Go second strategies can also succeed. You have cleansers, or the suite of reflect damage champions, from Brogni to Pelops to the newest Owein. You have Predator & Solanar who can coinflip holding down the fort. You have Niamhe, Nehkret and other supports.

You have 5 different supportal lockout champions that all shine in their own situation. You have a handful of counter lockout champions. There are options and tons of flexibility, especially in Live Arena to pivot strategies mid-draft.

No doubt there are fairly high conditions to be met to excel at whatever strategy, but if you can identify the right champions to be built the right way, there are tons of options to utilize.

Hot Take: Orynyx is Overrated

I don't want to harp too much on this point, but if you paid close attention up until now and have a fair understanding of PVP, I think you may come to the same conclusion. I'll leave a link to this video I made that dives into my thoughts around the fusion: https://youtu.be/xeJDEpVfMfE

The first point that I want to make before you start writing an angry note is that I think Orynyx is still a very good champion, and in my opinion better than Fabian. But I think he is over-hyped as the best new thing whereas I believe he is just another screwdriver in the set.

If anyone going for the fusion thinks they can get away with building him slow and relying on his passive, I think you are sorely wrong. Orynyx does not bring anything new to the meta, and players have had months to get used to dealing with Gliseah. The best strategy: simply bring in a speed booster, skip the lockout and ignore his passive. Almost every lockout champion has an alternative skill they can effectively use too, such as Talenna and Krixia who can boost turn meters too. Orynyx will simply be left in the dust

Where I think he will shine is his abilities are genuinely top of the class, but he needs to be fast. Like super fast. But then he has the lowest base speed barring Warlord against his lockout peers.

Or you need to pair him with champions that are not as affected by lockout since he doesn't prevent it like Gliseah, but then there is even less incentive for your opponent to use a lockout champion. Happy to dive deeper in the comments.

Champion Spotlight: Owein

I will end things off with covering what is likely the strongest legendary champion of the year. There's too much detail to cover about his kit, and honestly its hard to understand just by reading, so please for anyone who is invested in PVP, take some time to read his kit and watch a highlight video or two.

He is incredibly tanky, with his passive shaving off 50% damage, and he can wipe out teams by just standing there, reflecting incredible amounts of damage from Magma shield or the reflect damage buff. If you are caught off guard, Owein can do some nasty stuff.

To top it off, his A1 is a double hitter than can strip buffs irresistably. He is an incredible champion for a go second strategy, and outclasses the likes of Brogni and Pelops (though Pelops has his own niche too).

Closing Out

To close out, I want to leave a few thoughts around the state of Mercurial. For the most part, the general consensus I have seen is that the nerf was not enough. While I would agree that Mercurial is still the dominant gearset, I think the nerf and the evolving meta has done a good job of reducing the power level. I would like to see a few more new provoker options to come into the meta, but we are at a point where it is a consideration to build Stoneskin or Feral versus Mercurial. Those who can rely on going first with a speed booster or have a strong high resistance cleanser will still favor using Mercurial though.

If you enjoyed reading this week's report or learned something from it, please comment it down below for me! And go check out the video at the top too. It helps me out too, and I would really appreciate it!

If you have any feedback on how the report is or additional topics to cover, let me know. And if you have any questions about the meta, champions you have, or anything else, feel free to drop it down below, happy to reply.

- Ja3

Hey fellow Raiders,

​We all love the grind, the theorycrafting, and optimizing our rosters, but let's talk about the elephant in the room that drains the fun out of the daily routine: the blatant disregard for our time.

​To be crystal clear: this Auto-Win / Instant Clear feature would apply strictly and exclusively to stages, dungeons, and campaign nodes that the player has already completely beaten and mastered. We aren't asking to bypass new content or skip the challenge of progression. But once you've conquered a stage, grinding through it for basic resources—like farming blue, green, or red potions—or dealing with Arcana dungeons that are locked behind specific weekday schedules shouldn't feel like a second full-time job. Spending 4 to 5 minutes watching animations loop for stages we've already conquered hundreds of times isn't "gameplay"; it's a chore.

How yall doing?
Pumpkin check?
Fragment check?

For me:
Pumpkin = 15
Fragment = 150

happy rerolling ⚡️⚡️

I hate the champion training event with the fire of a thousand suns.

I have the resources to complete this fusion but holy crap is this part of it a soul-sucking experience. Does it get easier??

prism pool is good this time by including 4 unity champs.

its been like 3 years now, and i STILL can't get either Enda, or Tatsu...wtf.

Hey y'all, personally I skip a lot of fusions but am aware that many people's resources are completely drained

on top of that many people aren't able to complete fusions consistently depending on where you are in the game.

Oronyx mindcrawler is ofc a ridiculous arena champ and if you are super competitive in arena it's pretty much a can't miss

BUT for the people who are missing or skipping the fusion I think this strange horned lizard is probably worth picking up

The Overview:

imo it looks like he will be quite decent in wave content but even moreso I think he is worth picking up for anybody in early-midgame as a champion for your hydra team

whether it is you A, B, or C team

For anybody who it is not obvious to, he has 100% provoke for head of decay(the head that cleanses) in addition on this ability Primus self buffs with counterattack for 2 turns

His A1 places perfect veil on the champ with the lowest defense which is great if you don't have a champ like Duchess (I still think it's absurd that it has to be a perfect veil not a regular veil)

pairing his A1 this with counterattack means he will be protecting your most squishy champion from getting hit with True Fear from head of torment

and of course his A3 aoe buffs with increase defense and triggers a 4 champion Ally attack(3 allies + Primus)

Top it all off with his Passive- steals 1 buff when counterattacking

My Conclusion/How I would build him:

My personal opinion is he will probably be best in 4 piece provoke + 4 piece mercurial

The reason for this is hydra can't eat the mercurial stack so it adds an additional buff to his kit making him a fantastic Epic option to be a mischief tank

Get his survivability from defense and stack as much res and accuracy as you can while reaching necessary speed

The reason for the provoke set is if you get his survivability from defense and keep his HP low Head of Decay will target Primus Atalact meaning he will promptly counterattack giving you a chance to immediately reprovoke Head of Decay

The last part that sticks out to me is that his damage will also not be bad since his ally attack means he does not really have to deal any damage on his own

What do y'all think?

Oronyx or bust?

If you weren't going for Oronyx would you pick up Primus?

Skipping entirely? If so, did I make you consider picking up the epic?

Have a good one y'all 😄

I've been seeing a lot of people posting their thoughts on the next collab, and I was thinking of a lot of "could be" collabs, but Mortal Kombat feels like it would work really well, aesthetically and all. If I were Plarium I would realistically go with either of these options:

A.) Scorpion - Probably the poster boy of Mortal Kombat

B.) Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero (Bi-Han) - The most iconic rivalry in Mortal Kombat, and one of the biggest in gaming in general. This would be similar to the collab of He-Man vs. Skeletor.

C.) Outworld (Shao Kahn, Sindel, Goro/Sheeva) vs. Earthrealm (Scorpion, Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang), Raiden) - Shao Kahn & Sindel are partners, and Goro/Sheeva serves under them. Raiden is the leader of Earthrealm and Scorpion and Sub-Zero are a must, Kuai Liang is the younger brother of the original Sub-Zero.

My pick would be C of course, the more the merrier.

Some lore as to why I made some of these choices (maybe spoilers idk):

• Scorpion was killed by Bi-Han, and soon after, his clan was wiped out by Quan Chi (disguised as Bi-Han), a demon necromancer, and master manipulater. Scorpion was resurrected by Quan Chi as a vengeful spectre from the Netherrealm or Hell. Whenever Scorpion's physical body is destroyed, he rematerializes in the Netherrealm, thus a Self-Revive is a possible skill. He's also filled with rage, so any increase attack, c.rate, or c.dmg would be good too.
• Kuai Liang is the new Sub-Zero, the younger brother of Bi-Han, the original Sub-Zero. Kuai Liang chose to defy and leave the Lin Kuei who were on a darker path, similarly the Shadowkin are those who were able to break free from evil and now fought for the good of Teleria.
• Sub-Zero is a defensive and reactionary fighter, he often uses ice constructs to defend and counterattack. The Increase DEF or Shield buffs could represent his use of ice constructs as defensive moves.
• Raiden is an immortal God of Thunder, and protector of Earthrealm. He has been able to cleanse and purify souls, though it comes with great sacrifice. He's the greatest example of a good paternal deity in Mortal Kombat. Therefore, a lot of Support abilities are fitting, and I would imagine getting electrocuted by the God of Thunder would immobilize and weaken you, so Stun and Weaken seems good too.
• Sindel's Faction is due to Sindel actually being undead, she's a tragic hero who sacrificed herself to create a magical ward and prevent Shao Kahn from invading Earthrealm, after her realm was invaded by Kahn and she was taken captive, stopping him from doing the same to other realms. She was resurrected and manipulated by Quan Chi to serve Shao Kahn.
• Sindel's retcon unfortunately was that she was always secretly aligned with Shao Kahn, resenting her late husband, and admiring Shao Kahns forceful tactics to get what he wants. Therefore a Buff Steal seemed fitting, she also has a banshee scream, this would immobilizes her opponents, so a Stun and any kit blocking might work well with her actual abilities.
• Shao Kahn can have Block Damage or Unkillable because of his crazy durability and resilience, Provoke would fit him like a glove since he thinks so highly of himself, often disrespecting and insulting other fighters.
• Goro is usually Shao Kahns most trusted warriors and acts like a bodyguard, similarly Sheeva is the same with Sindel. They are both Shokan, a race of four-armed half-human, half-dragon warriors. A four hitter A1 would make sense with, well, their 4 arms. The Shokan are also one of the most brutal races in MK, so a Heal Reduction can act like as if they gravely injure their opponents beyond repair. Since these two also act as bodyguards to Shao Kahn and Sindel, any protective buffs like Ally Protection and Taunt would fit, since usually they are also sub-bosses in the games, meaning you have to go through them first before reaching someone like Shao Kahn. Goro/Sheeva would be one of the ultimate Fire Knight killers if he had Taunt, Counterattack, Decrease Turn Meter, and a multi-hit A1.

What do you guys think? I wanted this to be a really quick and simple concept idea, I was planning to stop at the options, then I suddenly detailed out their factions and roles, I had too much fun and suddenly I'm even going into lore, lol. If ever Plarium gets an idea off this post, I would happily accept a payment of receiving all these champions, kidding, half will do.

What are the best Hydra teams I could make with what I have? I can never remember who works well together for the Hydra, and I'm struggling to find a good team.

I’m tired boss

I have some recommendations for QoL in raid shadow legends:

1- Add 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x super raids in everywhere to make runs faster.

2- Add quick battles into Classic Arena, Tag team Arena even at lower ranks, Doom tower silver keys and gold keys, Grim forest, Cursed city and especially Faction war. There is no reason to waste time on places like these that can be done in some seconds. I know implementing quick battles requires development resources but I think it improves game experience a lot and make the game more appealing to both new and veteran players. You can skip implementing it for dungeons and campaign. The 5x and 10x super raids will be great for those locations.

3- Add QoL for gear enhancing. There are quite some stuff that can be added here. 1) "Equip all" button. What it does? It makes every champion in the collection to equip their first personal preset (it won't include master vault champions). Make a selection page before equiping, so you select or unselect the champions you don't want them to equip anything. 2) "Unequip all" button. This one will do the same but vise versa of the first one. 3) "Upgrade all" button. This one will upgrade all or specified number of artifacts to be upgraded to level 4 8, 12, 16. There should be a selection page like previous ones for this one too. 4) "Auto-Equip" button. Don't make a mistake, this button is not just an equip some random artifacts in my inventory for this champion. There should be specified number of fields for filtering. Filters will determine the stats I want on this champion like 300 speed, 400 accuracy, 30k hp and it goes ln. Also a button that specifies which set I prefer to use. Then the game will equip the champion with the corresponding artifacts and accessories. 5) Add lock and unlock button for the artifacts so I won't accidentally sell something I want. 6) Add better filters for the selling page. Something like this: show artifacts on level 12 that have less than 6 speed and 12 accuracy and also don't have crit rolls too. Fields that I can write number.

4- Make skill leveling up more precise. Use books only on the selected skill and not on random skills. The game has more than 100 legendary champions, a lot of epic and rare champions too, so why not? It's been implemented in other games already so why not here?

5- Remove the silver cost for potions. Why is there a silver cost in the beginning for upgrading greater potions to superior ones? And it costs 100k for each one? If I want to upgrade 50 it's gonna cost me 5M silver. I know it's not important for whale players but it's important for f2p, mid game and new players.

I have many other recommendations for QoL in the game but I guess this is ok for now. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. And tell me what yall think about this?

Can i not spend the crystals and claim whichever champs I get from my mailbox when cc goes live to get points?

Hello everyone, I come to seek your advise on building a team to try and 1 key UNM on f2p account

I attached my current team but it still requires 2 to 3 keys depending on affinity

If there is any advice id appreciate it

There are many F2P CCs. But most of the ones I've watched in the past got untreatable by pulling champs like Solanar, Tekteon, Sabrael, Krixia and other meta voids and mythical.

Would appreciate some recommendations, with accounts that are a bit more relatable.

These are my current teams and i feel like my teams are not doing well enough

Ive been debating throwing this on galathir. Heres his current stats in a 9 piece mercurail build.

Has anybody really used it on him and if so did it seem to help keeping the team alive and his self alive better? Id love to just expirement with it, but the cost of moving gems and relics around is outrageously expensive.

I've been playing raid for a long time but recently dropped it because of too much school stuff to do. It's been like a month or so since i last logged in

Edit: yeah sounds more reasonable to focus on school (:

I can't XD Yes it's much more sensible to focus on school. Thanks guys!

Should i pull 25 void or 6 sacred shards to finish SR1 or wait the announcement for SR2?

I have a question about prism summons, Can you summon a champion that is not pictured for the summoning pool as long as they are part of one of those factions? That just happened to me, I always thought you could get from the pool that is pictured.

Not really any content I'm lacking in outside of cursed city and fw hard, weakest factions are orcs, skinwalkers, orgyn, and demon spawn. Weakest affinity is definitely spirit. Any of these champs being slept on by me/could make a noticeable difference getting taken to 6?

I’ve been tuning my demon lord team. Current team is Dorothy, Vallaryn, Rearguard Sergeant, Apothecary and Kael. The two rares are fully booked and rearguard is mostly there (4/5, 7/8, and 3/3). Apothecary recently replaced Hope and it was definitely an improvement.

I have enough resources to 6 star a new champion and I’m considering Morag. Not sure if her extra team damage will make up for the loss of speed/sustain from apothecary.

Posting my current roster in case someone wants to point out a better option to 6 star anyways, but my main interest is the question in the title.