Factions, hero types and roles in AFK Arena

Every hero in AFK Arena has one of eight factions, one of three types, usually one of five Elder Tree classes, and two of nine roles. Faction decides who the hero hits harder and which formation bonus your team earns. Type decides the gear the hero wears and whether it deals physical or magic damage. Roles are labels the game puts on each hero to say what it does in a fight. There are 253 playable heroes right now, counting Awakened versions as separate heroes.

The faction wheel

A hero with faction advantage deals 25% more damage to the faction it beats. That multiplier is the whole effect: accuracy, crit chance and control chance don't change. The four core factions form a loop, Celestials and Hypogeans beat each other, Draconis beat other Draconis, and Dimensional heroes sit outside the wheel.

The two mutual pairs behave differently from the loop. A Celestial and a Hypogean both deal 25% extra to each other, so the side with more of them in the matchup, or the side whose heroes are already stronger, gets more out of it. Draconis are the only faction with advantage over themselves, which means a Draconis-heavy team facing another one trades harder in both directions. Dimensional heroes never gain or lose damage from faction, which makes them predictable picks into any enemy lineup.

Advantage matters most where you see the enemy before you lock your team: campaign stages, the King's Tower and the faction towers. Some Treasure Scramble seasons switch faction bonuses off entirely.

Formation bonus

Putting several heroes of one faction in the same lineup gives every hero on your side extra ATK and HP.

Celestials, Hypogeans and Draconis each bend these rules in their own way.

Celestials count as members of your largest faction group. Three Lightbearers, one Celestial and one Wilder count as four of a kind, and two Lightbearers, one Celestial and two Maulers count as three plus two.

Hypogeans never count toward a group. Each Hypogean you field adds the next tier of a separate Hypogean bonus instead, and the tiers stack:

Draconis form a group like any core faction, and every Draconis hero on the field also adds 2% ATK and 2% HP to the team, up to five heroes. A full Draconis lineup gets 25% from the five-of-a-kind bonus and another 10% from the Draconis count, for +35% ATK and +35% HP.

Dimensional heroes form a group with each other, so three of them earn the three-of-a-kind bonus. They can't join a core faction's group.

The Hypogean rule creates a real choice on a mixed team. Three Lightbearers plus two Maulers earn +15% ATK and HP. Three Lightbearers plus two Hypogeans drop to +10% ATK and HP but pick up Defense +30% and the energy-when-injured bonus. The Hypogean pair gives up 5% ATK and HP in exchange for Defense +30% and faster energy on heroes that are taking hits, which suits a front line that has to survive until its ultimates come up.

Faction gear

Gear can carry a faction tag. When a hero of that faction wears a tagged item of Rare quality or better, the item's base attributes are multiplied by 1.3 (enhancement bonuses aren't). On Crude and Common gear the tag does nothing.

Hero rarity

Rarity is the tier a hero starts at when you summon it, and it caps how far you can ascend it.

The ten Common heroes can't be ascended at all: Steixius, Merek, Dreaf, Sezis, Ulric, Bloodsnarl, Eletha, Arkadios, Draconis Warrior and Draconis Archer.

The 14 Rare heroes stop at Legendary+: Hogan, Ira, Angelo, Ogi, Arden, Niru, Morvus, Ankhira, Golus, Mirael, Silvina, Saveas, Vedan and Gourgue.

The game calls gold heroes Awakened heroes, or Highborn Dragons on the Draconis side. Of the 38, 22 are awakened versions of an existing hero, such as Talene, Ezizh or Thane. Six Celestials and Hypogeans start at gold without being an awakened copy of anyone: Gavus, Zohra, Maetria, Eugene, Envydiel and Hybris.

Each ascension tier also raises the level cap:

Dimensional heroes

All 34 Dimensional heroes start at Elite. They don't appear at the Stargazer, and the ones that aren't event-limited are sold in Merchants under Merchant Ship, Dimension Deals. Limited exchange events also let you fuse 60 Dimensional Hero Chest Fragments into a Dimensional Hero Chest once per event. When a series releases several Dimensional heroes at once, the first one is sold at 85% of its price during the launch event.

Soul Fusion opens after you clear stage 4-36. It links a Dimensional hero to any non-Dimensional hero you own, and while fused the Dimensional hero copies that hero's ascension tier and level. You can't field both in the same battle. Any resources you spent levelling the Dimensional hero come back when you fuse it. Unfusing costs 100 diamonds and drops the Dimensional hero back to Elite at level 1, though it's free if the target hero gets consumed.

From stage 6-40, friends and guildmates can also lend you 21 of the 34 as Garrisoned Mercenaries. Each loan lasts 30 days and costs 100 Dimensional Stones, and after you hire the same hero six times it stops costing anything. A hired hero arrives at Elite and level 1, and you can exchange for at most 200 Dimensional Stones per calendar month. Lending your own heroes out pays 40 Companion Points per loan, up to 200 a month.

Types and classes

Type decides which gear a hero can equip and whether it deals physical or magic damage. The hero card names the type with a class word, one per type.

The damage type changes how the target defends. Defense Rating lowers both kinds of damage. Physical damage is also lowered by Physical Resist and can miss entirely: when the target's Dodge is higher than the attacker's Accuracy, the miss chance is (Dodge - Accuracy) / (100 + Dodge - Accuracy). Magic damage can't be dodged. It's lowered by Magic Resist, and the target has a chance to halve it that grows as its Magic Suppression exceeds the attacker's Magic Efficiency.

So Dodge only protects against Strength and Agility heroes. Against a team built on Intelligence damage it does nothing, and Magic Resist or Magic Suppression is the stat that helps.

The Elder Tree uses a second class with five values, and it doesn't follow type. Plenty of Strength heroes count as Tanks and most Intelligence heroes that aren't Mages count as Supports. This is the class that decides which Elder Tree branch boosts the hero, so check it before spending Twisted Essence.

The other 24 heroes have no Elder Tree class and get nothing from the branches: the 10 Commons and the 14 Rare heroes that top out at Legendary+ (Hogan, Ira, Angelo, Ogi, Arden, Niru, Morvus, Ankhira, Golus, Mirael, Silvina, Saveas, Vedan and Gourgue).

The nine roles

Every hero has a main role and a secondary role. The game describes them like this:

The counts show how the roster is built. Continuous Damage is by far the most common main role, while Control and Debuff turn up mostly as a second job on heroes that do something else first. There are only 24 heroes with Heal as either role, so a dedicated healer is one of the scarcer slots to fill.