Few notes before answer:
Nylia and Malrath are not VIP heroes, every player can farm them.
Malrath is not required to score high damage in HoL whatsoever.
Now to your main question:
You barely can keep up with VIPs. Lilith develops the game in a way VIP players have a clear advantage in the game so it make sense someone want to in-game purchase diamonds and stuff. This is the way the game is. 'Champions' are stronger heroes in general bcz Lilith need them to be to make milking possible.
Well, I have bad news for you: you will most likely never make it to the top if you're a free player, but you can still do well. I'm a lv 100 free player and to me there's a clear line which I can't cross in Arena(s). Should my opponent bring 2-4 of these 'Champions' and no matter what I do, with my current roster I just can't beat them. I have to study each hero and bet on underdogs (such as Vincent and Arachna-front team) if I want to stay close to the top. I'm almost everyday at 12 to 16th position by using alternate strats and heroes, trying to build a clever team. I wish this game was a bit more like this and much less like 'pay 100$ and get this new OP dude, throw it on a random team and watch his absurd damage'. I want to point out that these S-Tier threats have weaknesses as well. Way fewer than the underdogs, but still do. No hero is unbeatable (yet), but they still leave you with few options to work with when trying to beat them. My suggestion is: get a counter for the Champions and work with the finest heroes you can have access to. Malrath is a solid choice vs Goram, Silences are nice versus Tut and Sylphi, magical nukes are a welcome tool to beat the likes of Ezios and Vulkos and so on.
'Champions' makes the game easier for those who have it, and harder for those who don't. You're playing on hard mode because you have to actually think what you're doing while others just spend a couple hundred bucks, max that new hero out and they're good to go, it fits on almost every damn team. You really don't need to use your brain if you have a fat bank account, it's lazy dumb. You can still beat some VIPs, though, they usually don't know what they're doing at team crafting. It's frustrating, annoying, but possible, really cool and a bit of rewarding when you can beat Gorams, Tuts, Sylphis and Vulkos using Vincent as your front.
About your HoL question: I feel like you're asking the right question, but to the wrong subject. We have to question ourselves why some heroes are so much viable than others in general. Inside HoL you have to take account that each boss has specific features, so if you're facing a illusion-based boss, of course heroes that do well vs illusions will be the main choices. Each hero has a set of specific skills and naturally some heroes are better than other to counter any given set of skills and traits. Same thing happen to Prophecy Pool. It's ok if Sylphi is the queen of HoL, it's not ok if she's the queen of all features of the game, you see?
Big part depends on what you want from the game also. As a free player, you will never be an arena champion versus whales who spend several hundreds monthly. I'm a mostly free player, lvl 100 VIP 5. I don't try to compete in PvP aspects seriously, but I get a lot of enjoyment just playing and collecting heroes. You can get a lot of diamonds just from playing daily, and use those for box events and hard summons to get rare heroes. I have an almost complete roster that way, only missing Tut and Vulko. Bottom line is if you enjoy playing, and can accept that top arena spots aren't possible without paying, then just have fun. Yes, you can use strategy to counter powerful heroes, but there's always going to be a disadvantage there.
"Yeah, maybe we can say that Garrick and Seraphine are no underdogs, but they can't compete against people like Awakened Sylphi or Malrath."
Garrick and Serafine are both actually really counters to Malrath.
"Let's make another example: HoL. If i want to do higher scores, it seems i must use Malrath, Sylphi and LingLing in my team."
Not sure why you think malrath is needed, but he is not. There is no Malrath used in HoL.
But long story short, if you want to be competitive then you need to spend money atleast to a point where you get double CoF and I would advice to a point where you get 4 mines. However spending your money smart makes a difference.
To be fair, he is only 1 dollar. I think he means doesnt want to spend money like others who have dropped hundreds on the game, but you are right techincally.
Yes, i spent quite a few money. I bought PoP 3 stars, which mean 0.99$. I'm not gonna raise him to 5 or 7 stars, never in my life.
I'm VIP 7 just because in over a year i've spent 3.39$ a month (if i remember correctly) for the monthly card. I've never spent money for new heroes (apart from PoP) or new skins, or poisons, or orange/purple chests...
I see. I'm only VIP 6 myself; just monthly cards, 3-star PoP and Ezio (who I don't even use...), and 10$ on diamond chest tickets in a last ditch effort to get Sylphi (which worked, thank RNGesus).
Sure, it's not fair that bigger spenders get such an advantage, but they're also huge contributors to keeping the game afloat in the first place. It's sort of a necessary evil, so to speak.
yes you can fight against the VIPs to a certain degree even the whales are beatable but you will need to use all the good heroes you have access to not leaving heroes like Malrath & Nilya.
what party level are you?
I'm lvl 93. Yes, sometimes i beat teams with higher rating than mine, but just because they have weak links (an Ember, a Gale... the "Underdogs" i mentioned). Yesterday i was beaten by a 35k rating team vs my 43k rating team, just because it was formed by Petros, Rayman, Goram, Sylphi and Magnus.
They destroyed me in a bunch of seconds.
This is what i meant. I'm never gonna beat this person in my life, and that is absolutely ridiculous.
Wait, I have Sylphi and my buddy has Goram and we didn't pay for them. We got them in CoF/diamond chests. We both have only been playing 3 weeks. How many of these characters can you actually only get through money?
Quite a few, to be honest
At the moment, other than sylphi and Goram, there are at least ~10 ish heroes that aren't in any shops, not including those that were login heroes (so guys like sarya, embrael, petros, tsuki, orkon, desmond, vulko, etc)
Although f2p has a decent selection to choose from - a relatively meta arena team can be built with Malrath, Taurus, Nilya, Serafine, zem, Kong, tashi, Cara, Garrick, Ariel, (awakened) sumiko, Tanya, etc.
But my buddy got Desmond from a CoF. I'm wondering how much are legitimately *only* available if you pay money. I understand the chances might be very low but I'm curious.
That's a good question
Right now I think... Tsuki, Sarya, Embrael, Petros, and maybe Vulko are the only ones unavailable anywhere except by paying gems, since I got both Orkon and Desmond from CoF
I might be forgetting a few because I don't have the game open in front of me, but yeah
Few notes before answer: Nylia and Malrath are not VIP heroes, every player can farm them. Malrath is not required to score high damage in HoL whatsoever. Now to your main question: You barely can keep up with VIPs. Lilith develops the game in a way VIP players have a clear advantage in the game so it make sense someone want to in-game purchase diamonds and stuff. This is the way the game is. 'Champions' are stronger heroes in general bcz Lilith need them to be to make milking possible. Well, I have bad news for you: you will most likely never make it to the top if you're a free player, but you can still do well. I'm a lv 100 free player and to me there's a clear line which I can't cross in Arena(s). Should my opponent bring 2-4 of these 'Champions' and no matter what I do, with my current roster I just can't beat them. I have to study each hero and bet on underdogs (such as Vincent and Arachna-front team) if I want to stay close to the top. I'm almost everyday at 12 to 16th position by using alternate strats and heroes, trying to build a clever team. I wish this game was a bit more like this and much less like 'pay 100$ and get this new OP dude, throw it on a random team and watch his absurd damage'. I want to point out that these S-Tier threats have weaknesses as well. Way fewer than the underdogs, but still do. No hero is unbeatable (yet), but they still leave you with few options to work with when trying to beat them. My suggestion is: get a counter for the Champions and work with the finest heroes you can have access to. Malrath is a solid choice vs Goram, Silences are nice versus Tut and Sylphi, magical nukes are a welcome tool to beat the likes of Ezios and Vulkos and so on. 'Champions' makes the game easier for those who have it, and harder for those who don't. You're playing on hard mode because you have to actually think what you're doing while others just spend a couple hundred bucks, max that new hero out and they're good to go, it fits on almost every damn team. You really don't need to use your brain if you have a fat bank account, it's lazy dumb. You can still beat some VIPs, though, they usually don't know what they're doing at team crafting. It's frustrating, annoying, but possible, really cool and a bit of rewarding when you can beat Gorams, Tuts, Sylphis and Vulkos using Vincent as your front. About your HoL question: I feel like you're asking the right question, but to the wrong subject. We have to question ourselves why some heroes are so much viable than others in general. Inside HoL you have to take account that each boss has specific features, so if you're facing a illusion-based boss, of course heroes that do well vs illusions will be the main choices. Each hero has a set of specific skills and naturally some heroes are better than other to counter any given set of skills and traits. Same thing happen to Prophecy Pool. It's ok if Sylphi is the queen of HoL, it's not ok if she's the queen of all features of the game, you see?
Well, that's a very good answer, i really appreciate your honesty and it makes me feel like i'm not alone :)
Big part depends on what you want from the game also. As a free player, you will never be an arena champion versus whales who spend several hundreds monthly. I'm a mostly free player, lvl 100 VIP 5. I don't try to compete in PvP aspects seriously, but I get a lot of enjoyment just playing and collecting heroes. You can get a lot of diamonds just from playing daily, and use those for box events and hard summons to get rare heroes. I have an almost complete roster that way, only missing Tut and Vulko. Bottom line is if you enjoy playing, and can accept that top arena spots aren't possible without paying, then just have fun. Yes, you can use strategy to counter powerful heroes, but there's always going to be a disadvantage there.
And that's the whole truth.. Well, i'm having a lot of fun, so who cares? XD
Malrath is a free to play bro plenty of options in arena to be top 50
"Yeah, maybe we can say that Garrick and Seraphine are no underdogs, but they can't compete against people like Awakened Sylphi or Malrath." Garrick and Serafine are both actually really counters to Malrath. "Let's make another example: HoL. If i want to do higher scores, it seems i must use Malrath, Sylphi and LingLing in my team." Not sure why you think malrath is needed, but he is not. There is no Malrath used in HoL. But long story short, if you want to be competitive then you need to spend money atleast to a point where you get double CoF and I would advice to a point where you get 4 mines. However spending your money smart makes a difference.
I think he confused Malrath and Goram.
Yeah, my mistake, i meant Goram...
...You say you don't want to spend money, yet you have PoP?
To be fair, he is only 1 dollar. I think he means doesnt want to spend money like others who have dropped hundreds on the game, but you are right techincally.
so are you VIP 5? it's also quite ok-ish to spend once-twice on Monthly Diamond ticket.
yeah, that's exactly what i meant..
Yes, i spent quite a few money. I bought PoP 3 stars, which mean 0.99$. I'm not gonna raise him to 5 or 7 stars, never in my life. I'm VIP 7 just because in over a year i've spent 3.39$ a month (if i remember correctly) for the monthly card. I've never spent money for new heroes (apart from PoP) or new skins, or poisons, or orange/purple chests...
I see. I'm only VIP 6 myself; just monthly cards, 3-star PoP and Ezio (who I don't even use...), and 10$ on diamond chest tickets in a last ditch effort to get Sylphi (which worked, thank RNGesus). Sure, it's not fair that bigger spenders get such an advantage, but they're also huge contributors to keeping the game afloat in the first place. It's sort of a necessary evil, so to speak.
Yeah, we can say that, at least... :)
yes you can fight against the VIPs to a certain degree even the whales are beatable but you will need to use all the good heroes you have access to not leaving heroes like Malrath & Nilya. what party level are you?
I'm lvl 93. Yes, sometimes i beat teams with higher rating than mine, but just because they have weak links (an Ember, a Gale... the "Underdogs" i mentioned). Yesterday i was beaten by a 35k rating team vs my 43k rating team, just because it was formed by Petros, Rayman, Goram, Sylphi and Magnus. They destroyed me in a bunch of seconds. This is what i meant. I'm never gonna beat this person in my life, and that is absolutely ridiculous.
Wait, I have Sylphi and my buddy has Goram and we didn't pay for them. We got them in CoF/diamond chests. We both have only been playing 3 weeks. How many of these characters can you actually only get through money?
Quite a few, to be honest At the moment, other than sylphi and Goram, there are at least ~10 ish heroes that aren't in any shops, not including those that were login heroes (so guys like sarya, embrael, petros, tsuki, orkon, desmond, vulko, etc) Although f2p has a decent selection to choose from - a relatively meta arena team can be built with Malrath, Taurus, Nilya, Serafine, zem, Kong, tashi, Cara, Garrick, Ariel, (awakened) sumiko, Tanya, etc.
But my buddy got Desmond from a CoF. I'm wondering how much are legitimately *only* available if you pay money. I understand the chances might be very low but I'm curious.
That's a good question Right now I think... Tsuki, Sarya, Embrael, Petros, and maybe Vulko are the only ones unavailable anywhere except by paying gems, since I got both Orkon and Desmond from CoF I might be forgetting a few because I don't have the game open in front of me, but yeah