The overarching purpose of gacha games is to collect heroes. The more you have, the higher your odds of being able to come up with a team composition that addresses the challenge ahead of you. Although some developers embed hard progression mechanics that will ultimately see that you are victorious, even if terribly unlucky, others count on players’ willingness to spend money.

We’d love to say that AFK Arena has one such failsafe to enable everyone, even F2P individuals, to progress against all odds. However, it does not. In fact, if you are F2P or you generally don’t like spending money on mobile games, your best chance is to land on the best heroes to begin with. Fortunately, if you play AFK Arena on BlueStacks, there’s a way to force your luck.

Meanwhile, here’s the team building cheat sheet you’ve been looking for.

1. Best Teams for the Early Game

This is an important part of any gacha, since the game is most liberal with the rewards it gives you. It’s an omnipresent mechanic by now, as developers try to make it seem that playing their game is more enjoyable than others. The more you play, the more obvious it becomes that the initial abundance of rewards gets thinner and thinner to a point where you’re not getting much except for a daily average.

To harness this early game boost, you’re better off rerolling until you get the following heroes, some of which we also mentioned in our best late game heroes. If you have the right heroes, this is the best team composition to go for:

Shemira

Her versatility and utility in the early game are difficult to match. She’s good in PvP (until you reach late game), does well against bosses, but also in other areas of the game, such as Voyage of Wonders or the Peaks of Time.

She is purchasable in the Labyrinth Store and she can be obtained from Chapter 7 in the Peaks of time. Belinda’s a good replacement, in case you don’t have her early on.

Lucius

He’s an easy go-to tank that heals your party, reduces everyone’s damage taken by 75%, provides damage mitigation bubbles, and knockbacks opponents. He’s got everything you might want from a frontliner.

Estrilda

She’s a great carry. Her Royal Charge means she goes forward into the enemy to knock them over. Although extremely useful, this will leave your backline slightly exposed, so make sure to position her accordingly if she’s up front.

Brutus

He’s tanky enough to handle a fair amount of beating, but can also do quite a bit of damage himself. The level 2 of his Whirlwind makes him invulnerable to Magic Damage, while his Last Gasp makes him immune to all incoming damage a short period of time.

Hogan

Although not the best, Hogan is a reliable frontliner for the early game. Level 3 of his Zealous Strike adds a stun to the ability, whereas the Knight’s Fury damages opponents by default.

2. Best Teams for Mid Game

Here’s one of the best formations for AFK Arena’s midgame:

Saveas

Before we get Shemira up to 160, Saveas is a better DPS, especially if we have Brutus in the formation as well. He works well with Nemora because the self-damage from Burning Acrimony will make her give him the benefit of the first heal (usually).

Brutus

Since his Roar increases physical damage, any physical-based DPS is most welcome in the backline.

Nemora and Arden

These two are not fixed in their positions. In fact, you should feel free to move them around as needed in order to control key enemies. Aside from being one of the strongest healers, Nemora will use her Beguile to charm an enemy into attacking their allies.

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Arden’s CC is his Entangling Roots, which will prevent up to 3 enemies from attacking, dodging, or moving. Use both of these wisely.

Lyca

We use her mainly for the beginning of the battle buff, Awe. This skill will increase your party’s attack speed and energy regeneration significantly. With her in the fold, your lineup will cast their ultimates much faster and spare you some enemy DPS.

3. Best Teams for Late Game and PvP

Once your party passes the 160 threshold, it’s high time you re-consider your team composition once more, since some units fare better in endgame scenarios than others:

Brutus

The more damage he receives, the more he does, so we want him in the 1^st position (top right one). If you don’t have him, Thoran might be a good substitute. He does less DPS overall, but is sometimes more durable.

Shemira

We put our main damage dealer in the 2^nd position so that she receives enough attacks in order to trigger her ultimate. In Brutus’ slot, she might be overwhelmed and not get to get at all, but this spot couldn’t be better, since she’ll still get to cast fairly early on.

Lyca

The energy charge and attack speed buff only get better. When you reach 201, she truly shines as a support and you’ll never want her out.

Nemora

Again, the charm is a value tool that will carry you all the way. Make sure to move her about in order to get the best CC results.

Tasi

It would be best if you had her alongside Lyca, since her energy recharge is quite slow. Otherwise, Tasi’s Slumber will basically CC the entire opposing team for no less than 4 seconds, in addition to increasing the damage they take.

For PvP, the standard late-game formation includes Estrilda in 2 (her knockback is really useful at interrupting and going through the frontline), Lucius in 1 (to gain as much energy as possible from getting hit), Belinda in 5, right behind Estrilda (so as to guarantee that the latter’s Inspire targets Belinda), Nemora in 4, and Lyca in 3.

So far, these are the strongest, most used AFK Arena team compositions. While you don’t have to follow them to the dot (it would help if you could), you can find replacements for each of these heroes so long as your subs fulfill the same roles.

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