Rad's Guide to Beating the Epic Boss (Updated 12-19-14)
A few things have changed since the original guide was created, so I decided to update it a little. (Changes made will appear in red)
Rad's Guide to Beating the Epic Boss
First section removed since Arena hands out more rewards than EB
Armors
Note: This guide was created BEFORE Epic armors, Epic chests and Rings and Amulets were released. In my opinion, Nemesis armors are a waste, due to their incredibly low defense stats. They may do 3X damage to the boss, but are often destroyed 2X faster by the boss.
The Nemesis armor is, obviously, one of the most important assets a knight can have in battling the boss. My strategy is to go to the Dark Prince's Chests as soon as the new boss appears on Tuesday Evening (6:00 PM, U.S. Central Time;
GMT-6:00), and spend the gems I've collected over the past week until I'm lucky enough to draw the Nemesis Armor. I think you'll find that most experienced players here do quite the same. If I happen to draw the Nemesis, I quit opening chests, and save those gems for the following week. If I'm unlucky enough to run out of gems WITHOUT getting the Nemesis, I make do with what I have.
My strategy, concerning gems and chests, is to save them until I have enough to open 11 Epic chests at once, or at least 5 of the 24 hour step chest, to guarantee I will get something I could use (fusion boost armors)
Certain Non-Nemesis armors can be quite strong against the BossesStrong element Epics and Legendaries. A mid-level player should be somewhere in the process of crafting/maxing the "Big Four" L50 Armors (Crius+, Atlantean+, Hydra+, and Living Flame+.) A high level L50 or L70 that has elemental advantage can to quite a bit of damage to the Epic Boss. This week's boss is of the Spirit element. Since we know that Fire is strong against Spirit, the Hydra+ and Living Flame+ are both strong against it. A L70 (3 or 4 star) armor with fire as an element would be even stronger, provided that it is leveled highly enough, and doesn't also contain the Earth element, against which Spirit gains an advantage.
Use this method to choose armors when you miss out on Nemesis, and use them to equip your (non commander) supplemental knights against the Boss.
Friends in High Places
You can't hope to really do maximum work against the Boss without gaining, and utilizing friends, specifically ones of a higher level than you that have strong (including, but not limited to Nemesis) armors.
Note: Friends are subject to limitations based on your knight's level. So the higher your level, the stronger your friends are in battle
Many of us on this forum are more than willing to offer our friendship to newer players who need the help. Most of us, however, would prefer that you send us a Private Message with your add code rather than spamming requests across every discussion thread. It's good forum etiquette, and when you're level 80+, and getting more friend requests from random strangers than you can keep up with, you'll appreciate the same consideration.
Don't Chug Your Energy Drink. Sip it.
Epic Energy, required to fight the boss, is VERY slow to regenerate. You gain one EE every 25 minutes,for a maximum of 10. That means when you're out, it takes 4 hours and 10 minutes before you're full again. It's critical to use this energy wisely.
Try, in all cases, to use just as much energy to dispatch the boss as possible, and no more. You have the ability to use up to 5 knights (including friends) at once. The first costs 3 Epic Energy, the second costs 2 EE, and the third, fourth, and fifth cost 1 EE each. Therefore: 1 Knight costs 3 EE, 2 costs 5 EE, 3 costs 6 EE, 4 costs 7 EE, and 5 costs 8 EE.
Use as few knights as it takes to kill the boss, and SAVE the rest of that energy for your next battle. If you've chosen the armor for your main knight wisely, you should be able to kill the boss with only the main knight in your lineup for the first few levels. Add in the bonus Epic Energy that the boss drops, and the EE rewarded for some of the early milestones, and you'll see how we 80+ Level players bang out 15 or more kills in the first night!
***Don't take this TOO far, though. If you're not comfortable that 2 knights will be enough, go ahead and add the third for 1 more EE. If you fail to kill the boss with 2, and have to send your main knight back in against him to finish him off, you will have spent 3 instead of just 1 EE.***
Another Tip: Sometimes adding a knight is not as good a play as replacing a knight with a better knight. For example, suppose you were using your main knight in Nemesis and another knight in elementally suited armor for 5 EE, and that you just barely killed the boss and are concerned that you won't quite do it against the next level boss. Rather than adding a 3rd knight for an additional 1EE, you can dismiss the weakest of your two knights, and replace him with a high level friend with Nemesis, getting more power for the same 5 EE.
Strength in Numbers
Each knight you add not only adds his own power, but gives a damage bonus to all knights in the group. One knight fights with no damage bonus. 2 gives +25%, 3 gives +50%, 4 gives +75%, and a 5 knight team gets +100%.
Keep this in mind when you've added a third knight, suddenly it only takes two knights to drop the boss. You might be tempted to ease back to two, but remember that the presence of the third is exactly what strengthened the first two.
Buying Insurance
The boss progresses in stats and hit points as you progress through the Boss Levels, but the progression is not linear! At the end of each Reward Tier (or milestone) the Boss makes a substantial jump in power. Subsequently, when beginning the next tier, he backs down a little. Nowhere is this more evident/pronounced than from L14 to L15. I make it a habit to "buy insurance" and add one more knight when I'm up against those milestones (Levels 15, 21, 28, 35, 43, 51, and 60). I'm often able to back it back down when beginning the next tier.
Batting Order
As you've certainly noticed, the "special attack bar" charges as you deal and receive blows. For this reason, it's often a good idea to stagger your non-nemesis knights ahead of, and between your Nemesis (or highest powered) knights. This way, your weaker knight has charged the special attack bar allowing your Nemesis knights to start off with a special attack, and get more of them than they other wise would. This becomes especially important at the higher levels. If the boss is taking 100+ hit points off of you with every hit, even a level 90 knight only gets 5 or 6 hits. Making 2 of those special attacks, rather than only one, makes a HUGE difference!
For example, if you're using 4 knights (for 7 EE), you might place them as such: 1) Non Nemesis Knight 2) Main knight in Nemesis, 3) Non Nemesis Knight, 4) Friend with Nemesis.
When Eight isn't Enough
Eventually you'll run into a point where 3 of your knights plus 2 friends (spending a total of 8 Epic Energy) still doesn't drop the boss. Keep in mind that you have a two hour window from the time the boss appears to kill him. You can go back and pound him some more as long as you have the energy to do so.
When you reach this point, there are two timing issues you need to keep in mind.
1) Always start with 10 Energy. If your 5 knight (8 EE) team doesn't kill the boss, the two EE you have left wont allow you to send a knight (or two) back in. But, if you wait 25 minutes, your EE will charge up to 3, and your main knight is good to go. If the Boss only has a few hundred Hit Points left, this will be enough to finish him.
If you've left the boss with a couple thousand HP, then you might need 2 knights (maybe main knight plus a nemesis-wearing friend) to finish him off. In this case, you'll need to wait 75 minutes for your EE to charge up to 5. If you wait another 25 minutes, for a total of 100 miuntes, or 1 hour and 40 mintues (if you prefer), you can have a three knight team. That brings up the next point...
2) Watch the Clock! If you think there's a chance that your 5 knight team might not get it done, you benefit yourself by having the ENTIRE two hour window to work with. If the Epic Boss is available to you, but only has 45 minutes left on the clock, you wont have time for your EE to recharge to 5 before he disappears, and you'll have to repeat the level with the boss at full stats (and if you think you know otherwise, please keep it to yourself).
Therefore, it might be better to let the 45 minutes expire, kill some minions to summon the boss, and fight the boss with a fresh two hour clock. This leaves your options open, and avoids wasting epic energy.
If you follow these tips, and keep choosing and leveling the right armors, you'll find yourself creaming that boss without having to spend your gems on Epic Energy in no time.
Hope this helps!
