Let’s talk stats then we will do some theory crafting and observation. Shout out to my friend Natsuma Z who is the host of the critically acclaimed podcast Free to Play BTW who loaned me his Ken’s stats when fully awakened and 6 stared.

Attack: 966 (Not bad lad as my Dad would say.This is an important stat but the good news here is that Ken have a mechanic called HP scaling. HP scaling means this: Ken will do additional damage that scales with the amount of health he has.

The actual math on this I believe (I know the community will correct me if I am wrong) is something like an additional 10% damage based of HP on skill 1 and 2 and 30% additional damage based on health with his skill 3. This is significant because you can focus on health as a sub stat or main stat on every piece of equipment and your not losing any damage.

In fact, your adding to the damage significantly. This mechanic is what we like to call “busted” meaning that it makes a character very powerful having the best of both worlds damage and longevity. All that being said, you do not have to focus on attack but at the same time if your gear has great attack and health stats then well… the more the merrier!)

Health: 7323 (Oh yeah baby! This is where Ken shines bright like a diamond. He has the highest base health in the game which means adding to it makes him a akin to the M1 Abrams Tank; dangerous and hard to kill.

Add into the mix the health damage scaling mentioned above and you have a real monster on your hands. Making Ken 20,000 HP + is not difficult because of HP scaling and the fact that he hits like a truck. Focus on this stat first and all else will follow.)

Speed: 102 (Not the slowest, not the fastest Ken lacks in this area and thus needs some love in this area. 160 is a good number to aim for as this places him in a good position on your combat readiness bar and allows him to cycle his skills faster. Don’t be afraid to add more, like any stat you want to go as high as your gear allows.)

Defense 657 (We are going to chat about this later but most people use Ken as a “Bruiser.” Defining the Bruiser archetype can be tricky so in simplistic terms a bruiser is someone who doesn’t do as much damage as a DPS unit but still hits hard, while maintaining enough defense statistics to make him hard to kill.

The more technical explanation would be a hero that maintains their survive ability via defensive tactics, statistics, and or sustain effects making them more effective in the mid to long term range during battle. So what does that mean for defense? If your going the bruiser route then 1200 would be a good number to aim for.

If you make a hero that has a ton of health but no defense then they can lose that health very fast making them ineffective. Defense allows for negation of damage much like a bullet proof vest could prevent some of the damage from a round fired by a small arm.)

Critical Hit Rate 15%/Critical Hit Damage 150% (Critical hit rate and Critical Damage are two stats that most people go for when building Ken. Even though Ken does extra damage based on his HP, the critical hit function will allow him to do extra damage on top of that. Like we talked about earlier the 10/10/30 will be multiplied even further by a critical hit.

It could be discussed in detail elsewhere but the origin of the critical hit mechanic goes all the way back to the original RPG Dungeons and Dragons. The point of the critical hit was to double the damage done to a specific opponent by an imagined hit to vital areas.

The mechanic has since then been used in nearly every version and iteration of Role Playing Games and it is usually something you want in great amount. That being said Ken wants to crit… he told me so. Go for as much as you can get here shoot for 200% (the classic “double damage effect”) go higher if you can.

To get the damage you need to hit the crit so you want 100% chance to crit but Ken will do well with a lower rate around say 85% if you find you can’t get the stats right away.)

Dual Attack 5% (unless you have gear that happens to all be dual attack set with ungodly substats don’t worry about this area, it’s far more advantageous to use other gear.

Resistance 0% (So this is a controversial stat in Epic 7 these days. The general consensus is unless your able to hit a minimum of 100% on this stat then it’s worthless. The game has a certain mechanic that makes resistance very RNG (random number generated).

Basically regardless of how much resistance you have there will ALWAYS be a 15% chance that you will or will not get the debuff to land. Sadly this really messes up the entire idea behind the resist function but most of the time a higher effect resistance does equate to less debuff’s. So with all that being said I would advise that unless your focusing on a build that uses resist gear, resistance artifacts, etc. then the points are best used elsewhere.

Looking at all this information it’s brought home that the build for Ken is variable and depends very much on what content your going to use him in. Currently the Meta focuses very much on Ice units so it can be risky to bring fire to the ice fight, however, Ken has some skills that make him deadly even to a blue powerhouse character like Sir Krau.

Ken brings the following effects in his kit: defense break, burn, stun, and decreased attack for debuff’s and increased speed, attack, and defense for buffs. He does a lot for himself and that makes him very versatile. Many PC’s choose to use Ken as a bruiser. The Bruiser archetype is much like the classic RPG idea of multi-classing.

Basically a bruiser has some of the qualities of both a tank and DPS type unit making them both dangerous and hard to kill. I ran into a situation where during a guild wars battle Angelic Momo, Ken, and Fallen Cici were impossible to beat within the 30 minute time limit because Momo can spam her heals (which are based on the total hp of the hero being healed) and the healed targets were basically immortal because I was unable to cause enough damage.

This is just one example of the how Ken is till effective in a Meta that revolves around ice element hero’s in almost every team.

As far as equipment is concerned there is an old running joke out there (I am certain it’s a meme somewhere) that any gear is Ken gear. In some ways this statement is very true. The abyss levels give a set of pretty decent lifestyle gear that gets more powerful the further down in the abyss you go. If the stats roll into the right places or are even a little off this is a great free to play option to give Ken a great setup.

That is the easy way to go but Ken works well almost anything because he is such a versatile character. Over time I have had a chance to play with Ken’s kit as he is one of my oldest hero’s. In fact he was the second five star I pulled and that has given me plenty of opportunity to play with different builds. The current configuration seen in the images below is what I am running with at the current moment so let me take the time to explain my choices and why I choose what I choose.

It is pretty well known in the community that speed is overall the best set of four that you can put on a character, any character. I have heard this explained several ways but usually it’s confusing and has to do with the math totals and percentages that are what make up your characters stats.

To simplify this and boil it down to it’s most basic element the amount of speed that you get from a speed set is the highest amount that any set provides. So, even if you have a character that doesn’t need speed as a primary attribute it is mathematically the most advantageous set and you can use your necklace, ring, and boot main stats to round the character out and the substats to get you to where you want to be.

Ken needs speed, this is something I have figured out over the past year of gaining rank in both arena and guild wars. I started playing this game almost immediately after it released but I wasn’t serious about it until about six months in; mistakes were made and time was wasted. Often I wish someone had explained this whole speed set concept to me at the start as it would have saved a lot of time and resources.

The concept of crit damage versus regular damage is very simple, a critical hit will deal more damage than a regular hit but at the cost of having to fit the “crit chance” stat into your build. Ken does not need to be run on a crit set but I choose this as a primary set because I wanted to take advantage of his bruiser capabilities versus building him full damage or full defense.

The crit rate for my Ken is to low and I am working to add to it but does land enough to get the job done. What I really focused on here was the health total. My previous build was life-steal with attack being the main stat for boots, necklace, and ring but I found I was losing both health and speed. Ken right now is at 21000+hp the highest life total of any character I have.

When I use Ken I back him up with a strong healer, this makes him a time consuming target for any enemy team. Even though he isn’t doing as much damage in this build as he had in previous builds, he still hits like a truck thanks to HP scaling. I spoke a little about HP scaling before but I want to discuss it more in depth to give you an idea of exactly what makes this mechanic so good.

HP scaling at it’s most basic works with this equation: more health= more damage. The mechanic is actually a bit more complicated and would look more like this in equation form: damage=health total+percentage modifier+attack percentage. The modifier in this instance is 10% for skill 1 and skill 2 and 30% for skill three.

An example would be if Ken had 100 hit points he would deal 10 extra damage on S1 and S2 and 30 extra damage for his S3. If you want to play with the  math you can use the skill modifier data mine that is available as an excel spreadsheet. Here is the URL for your convenience: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aqL0Uj26PRW_jAUj8pYaSls_DOuFq30fvwQh8ol74-E/edit?usp=sharing

In this section we will discuss advanced concepts that revolve around end game content. As the game changes constantly we will attempt to give you the most updated information to help improve your game both in PvP and PvE content. Character builds and concepts for advanced PvP and PvE will help open your eyes to a new world of possibility. Dust off those old characters you thought were no good and get ready to dominate!

This week the first character we will look at is Tywin, the five star knight available through covenant summons. Let’s look at Tywin’s base stats when fully leveled and awakened and see how he might help improve your game. We will start with a concept build for PvP and then one for PvE and some of the instances where he would shine.

Tywin can act as both a defensive and offensive knight simultaneously giving you multiple options during a PvP match that can lead to a decisive victory.

Tywin’s Base Stats

Tywin

Attack 821 (decent for a knight, Tywin doesn’t need a ton of attack because his damage scales from his health total. Add some attack bring it to 1.2k or as high as your gear allows but you don’t need to focus on this attribute)

Health 6751 (this is an area where Tywin shines, though not as high as some other characters his health is high enough that you can add to it using your gear without difficulty. You want this stat as high as it will go (aim for 17k) as he will do more damage and survive longer but you don’t have to devote a ton of stats to this because he will also be giving himself a defense buff on his Skill 3. This gives him versatility using alternate builds) 

Speed 110 (this is one of the hardest to get and most important stats for many characters but for Tywin 110 base means he will be easier to gear than any other knight. It is very important that Tywin goes first so speed is a priority. 230 is the number to aim for but if you can get it higher go for it. This is one of the reasons why Tywin may be more of an end game build rather then someone you focus on for starting a new account) 

Defense 648 (at first glance this seems very low for a tank but keep in mind his kit gives him a boost in this area so you don’t have to focus here as much. Aim for 1.2k  

But don’t exceed 1.8 as this will have diminishing returns and the extra stats are best placed elsewhere)

Crit Chance 15% ( depending on the build your critical hit and damage can be modified to meet you goal. The general rule is aim as high as you can but focus on the stat you need the most. Is Tywin going to be a primary member in a lot of your teams?

Do you plan to invest mola gora beyond the -1 skill cooldown and 100% effect chance on his s3? Have you taken into account that he buffs himself with his s2? The glory of using Tywin is that his ability to increase both attack and critical hit stats allows you to build a character at a lower crit rate putting the stats into other categories then using Tywin to boost them the rest of the way. Aim for 50% and allow his buff to do the rest.)

Crit Damage 150% (As noted above Twins bread and butter is his unique ability to boost both attack and crit at the same time. If you can get to 200% beautiful but if not you don’t have to focus on this stat at all.)

Dual Attack 5% (don’t overlook the fact that dual attack is a very overpowered mechanic and characters like Tamarine, Lilias, Kitty Clarissa, and Taranor Guard are best suited if you want to add dual attack. No need to add more here.) 

Effectiveness 18% (Remember that effectiveness and effect chance are two different mechanics. Tywin when Molagora’ed on his s3 will have a 100% chance to proc the decrease defense debuff but not 100% chance to beat the enemy’s effect resist. Get this number to 100% + and you will land that debuff far more often.) 

Effect Resist 0% (this is up for debate as no matter how much effect resist you have there is still always an innate 15% chance for a skill to proc. However a high effect resist does help you avoid those nasty debuffs far more often as anyone who has ever tried to attack Momo (Angelic Montromancy) can attest to. Try to aim for 100% and you won’t be sorry you did.) 

Keep in mind that when scaling your Tywin or any character for Defense in Arena or Guild Wars that you can effectively double many stats and chances to proc both in the character and any artifact that you place in the artifact slot.

Ever been hit by a Dizzy with Abyssal Crown? The proc chance on offense for a maxed out Abyssal Crown is 20%. On defense this becomes doubled even if the game designers don’t give that information in game. Following this you will find four examples of advanced builds for Tywin both offensive and defensive and a sample of the team compositions you would place him in.

Offensive/Defense Build

Set 1: Speed/Immunity 

• Necklace Main Statistic: Health
• Ring Main Stat: Health 
• Boot Main Stat: Speed   

This build allows you to use Tywin in both your defense and offense teams. The screenshots here show you my defense success rate with Tywin and it has been very effective. Tywin in defense will use his S3 first and his speed means he usually goes first or second.

Opening up with a AoE 100% defense break instantly puts the attacker on defense and takes away turn advantage. When Tywin uses his S2 it will put the buffs on the character with the highest attack. In this case it’s Seaside Bellona and the effect of both a crit and attack buff plus a 30% increase in combat readiness allows you to play around with your attackers stats.

What that looks like is instead of having to focus on extra attack, crit, and speed you can up the effectiveness, defense, health, and effect resist which allows your team to survive longer. In the current meta Dizzy is a prominent defense team member and usually runs around 230+ speed.

Even if your Tywin can’t beat Dizzy you can use him to boost up a character like Momo, Destina, or Lilias to instantly reset the turn by dispelling all the debuffs! You don’t have to focus on buffing your attackers right away, use the utility to gain the advantage.

Tywin’s S1 when skilled up has a 75% chance to dispel 1 buff from an enemy. This can be very useful to get rid of shields put up by Angelica or Luluca, the attack buff from both iterations of Vildred, or take away the immunity first turn from the defense teams squishy DPS. Tywin is not meant to do the job of a DPS unit but can put up good damage if you invest Mola into him. Here are some things to think about when using Tywin in your teams…

Cleave: Use Tywin to boost those slower heros that are filling your DPS role, add Tagehel’s ancient book and use the soulburn to both break defense and add massive damage and your have a turn two kill ready to go.

Utility: Tywin has a lot in his kit. Basically whatever you need to do to gain the advantage Twyin most likely has it. Boost speed, add damage, dispel, and tank all in one. Talk about versatility.

Defense: Tywin’s speed allows him to be very annoying, and very deadly. The opposing attacker will have to focus on taking him out which will be hard to do with 18k hp, high defense, and effect resist. 

Artifact Choice

The recent addition of Bastion of Perlutia allows Tywin to cast a huge shield onto your best DPS unit based upon his HP max. Most of the time with 5 star artifacts you may be stuck with them at level 15 as it’s  hard to acquire extra copies or a potion of knowledge from the artifact shop. At 15 the bastion grants 22.5% of Tywin’s max HP adding an additional several thousand effective hit points right off the bat and is a great choice.Use this in a defense roll and take your attacker off guard. 

Noble Oath allows Tywin to gain super tank status with an up to 50% increase in defense and effect resist making him very hard to kill even to an enemy like Vivan who can cause massive damage especially considering she has elemental advantage.

Holy Sacrifice: Avoid this artifact on offensive but put in on a defense build and it will always proc even at 15. Remember when a character is on defense certain stats and procs are doubled and Holy Sacrifice falls under this category. It can take attackers off guard and cause a jump scare when all of a sudden he’s back in the game.  

Justice for All: Even though this artifact was recently buffed it is not recommended as it’s very hard to figure out what buff will be deployed. When your using Tywin you want to count of as much certainty in your build as possible. 

Sword of Ezera: Great for PVE this artifact will allow Tywin be much more effective against bosses or elite monsters and can really help in the Abyss or higher floors of the Automaton tower. 

Proof of Valor: Available in the guild wars shop this artifact is a guaranteed 5 star that can be brought to level 30 giving Tywin an additional level of survivability that will make him very hard to kill. 

Aurius: This will allow Tywin to work more efficiently as a tank and soak up damage that otherwise would effect your other teammates. If your using Tywin for his ability to Tank this is a great way to go.

Adamant Shield: Another artifact that allows damage mitigation this is a highly viable option especially considering the nerf to Crimson Armin. A fully maxed out Adamant Shield his now higher than Armin’s passive however it’s important to note that Crimson Armin with an Aurius equipped will still provide a good amount of damage mitigation and if you own her than allow Tywin to carry something else to maximize his utility. 

Hilag Lance: This artifact will allow Tywin to gain his turn faster however is not recommended as Tywin is meant to be a knight run at much higher speeds than you would find in other knight options. When your still trying to great Tywin at lower levels or for newer characters this becomes the BEST option for Tywin as it will allow more versatility.

UNIQUE EQUIPMENT: Estyria the beautiful silver sword that cuts through enemies it’s enemies delicately, like the winter wind.

Tywin has recently been blessed by the smilegate team with his own piece of unique equipment adding to his already packed skill set. Tywin’s  sword Estyria is a unique artifact that some say was made during the height of the winter solstice during the first year of Queen Diene’s reign. The sword was rumored to have been tempered in water made from the melted snow gathered during the first fall on the highest mountain. The spirits of winter imbued this sword with three unique features:

The sword has the ability to dispel two buff’s from an enemy with the use of Tywin’s S1.

The second feature will lower the cool down count of Tywin’s S3 by 1 when dispelling a buff using his S1.

Lastly Tywin can give himself a boost of 50% combat readiness (rather than 30%) when using his S2.

Additionally the sword imbues the owner with strengthened constitution adding anywhere between 7 to 14% to the wielders overall health total. It should be noted that when Tywin picked up the sword for the first time he heard the words in his head softly spoken; “Wield me, and you will never miss.”

After using all three skill’s extensively it should be noted that you want to acquire the ability to gain that extra 20% combat readiness when using Skill 2. The reason for this is simple, even with a maxed out S1 the chance to dispel is very erratic and during the heat of battle you want as much surety as possible and the ability to gain 50% CR means that you now have the choice to use his S2 early and then follow up with his S3. Because Tywin is most effective at high speeds he will gain his second turn very quickly thus cycling the skills and being able to take advantage of 2 skills almost at 1 time. Tywin has the ability to Soulburn and gain an extra turn which is very effective for cleaving.