Hero

This page contains information on all of the common mechanics for obtaining and improving the heroes of Infinite Arena.

Recruitment
Heroes can be recruited via the 'Recruit' button within the 'Heroes' menu. Basic summons use Recruitment Tokens (green border) and summon heroes from Poor to Genius rarity. Premium summons require Shiny Recruitment Tokens (purple border) and summon heroes from Talented to Genius rarity, with Gifted and Genius heroes appearing at a higher rate than with Basic summons. The class and background of the hero summoned is random, and some heroes (currently Shinigami, Ritualist and Silent Knight) have special requirements to be met before they can be summoned through recruitment.

Seraph meter
Each level of the Seraph meter increases the chance of stronger heroes appearing in the recruitment pool by +100%. The meter is increased after each Premium Summon that does not result in either a Gifted or Genius hero. A Genius or Gifted hero appearing will decrease the Seraph Meter, and can cause the Seraph Meter to lose levels.

Talent Level
Talent levels provide a modifier to a hero's base statistics as follows. Talent levels can be raised using the 'Enlighten' option within the Hero 'Advanced Options' menu.

Background
Family backgrounds are similar to talent levels, but they apply bonuses to specific statistics. Backgrounds can be changed using the 'Change Background' option within the Hero 'Advanced Options' menu.

Such backgrounds include:

Mastery
Mastery trees provide an opportunity to finely tune hero stats through the investment of skill books into various stat nodes. Each Mastery tree consists of 6 levels, and each level consists of 10 rows of randomly determined stat nodes. Rows are required to be invested into sequentially and each node increases in cost compared to the last. Once all 10 rows in a level have been invested into, a new level can be unlocked by pressing the 'Upgrade Mastery' button. This costs a set amount of Certificate of Mastery, depending on the Mastery level.

Available stats within a mastery tree are determined by the hero's class. Potential maximum and minimum stat values are also affected by the hero's class. Tapping the information icon in the top right of the Mastery screen shows the total available stat value for each stat within the Mastery tree across all levels. A Mastery tree's available stat values can be changed by pressing the 'Reset Mastery' button. This costs one Lobotomizer 3000 per reset and resets the entire Mastery tree. After resetting the Mastery tree the new tree can be accepted or discarded.

Potential Mastery tree stats include damage, health, armor, attack speed, dodge rate, crit rate, crit damage, vampirism, and block rate.

Classes
Classes determine what kind of skills and equipment a hero will use, as well as their base statistics.

Heroes may be one of the below 31 classes. These heroes can be reviewed any time in game by tapping on the (i) button in the top right corner of the 'Recruit' screen.
 * Archer
 * Bandit
 * Chaos Knight
 * Earther
 * Fighter
 * Frost Mage
 * Gladiator
 * Guardian
 * Hatchetman
 * Illusionist
 * Intern
 * Lancer
 * Lifestealer
 * Longbowman
 * Naturalist
 * Necromancer
 * Paladin
 * Priest
 * Pyrologist
 * Ritualist
 * Samurai
 * Scholar
 * Shaman
 * Shinigami
 * Shinobi
 * Silent Knight
 * Sniper
 * Squire
 * Summoner
 * Techie
 * Thief

Statistics (Stats)
Heroes have a number of statistics that determine their effectiveness in combat. Different hero classes have different base bonuses applied to their statistics, which can be viewed within a hero's information panel. Bonuses in green are considered a +1 deviation (better than 68% of other classes) and bonuses in red are considered a -1 deviation (worse than 68% of other classes). In addition to their base bonuses, heroes can improve their statistics through equipment, mastery, runes, orbs and temporary combat buffs.

Health
Health, represented by the heart icon on the main hero page, determines the maximum available hit points a hero has. There are no diminishing returns on investment into health, meaning every point of health gained directly increases a hero's hit point maximum.

Damage
Damage is the main offensive statistic for heroes, and is used to determine the effectiveness of basic attacks and most skills. It is represented by the skull icon on the main hero page. There is no diminishing returns on investing into damage, meaning every point of damage directly increases a hero's damage output.

Armor
Armor, represented by the shield icon on the main hero page, determines a hero's damage reduction value. It is determined using a logarithmic equation (-66.9921+8.2894*LN(x)) which yields a steep return on investment for low armour values, before applying heavy diminishing returns beyond the first 1 million Armor a hero has. At present it is not advisable to invest into Armor in favor of Health for increasing a hero's survivability.

Crit Rate/Damage
Crit Rate determines the likelihood of a critical hit occurring, whereas Crit Damage determines the bonus damage applied by the critical hit. Heroes have a default Crit Rate maximum of 50% (referred to as a 'soft cap'), which can be increased to 65% with the Merchant background. This cap only affects Crit Rate obtained through Equipment and Mastery, and can be exceeded by temporary combat buffs without limit (referred to as 'hard cap').

When a basic attack or skill critically hits, its damage is increased by the hero's Crit Damage stat, however damage reduction applied by Armor is applied twice to critical hits. The resulting damage calculation is: Damage Output = (Damage x Crit Damage) / 1 - (Damage Reduction x Damage Reduction). This means that there is a minimum Crit Damage required to make a critical hit more damaging than a regular hit, which scales with the target's Armor statistic. This is important to note as some heroes don't have sufficient access to Crit Damage to warrant investment into Crit Rate, such as the Techie.

Note: Basic attacks or skills that ignore Armor or scale on a statistic other than Damage cannot critically hit.

Attack Speed
Attack Speed determines the frequency of basic attacks, and represents the interval in seconds between basic attacks. Most hero classes have a base Attack Speed of 0.5s, however this interval can be as large as 2s between attacks. Outside of temporary combat buffs, Attack Speed can only be increased through Mastery to a minimum interval of 0.25s between basic attacks. It is possible to reduce this interval beyond 0.25s through temporary combat buffs, however there is an artificial limit placed on Attack Speed by the combat animations. The amount of Attack Speed required to reach 0.25s between basic attacks depends on the base Attack Speed of the hero, as detailed in the table below.

Dodge
Dodge determines the likelihood of a hero avoiding an incoming attack, negating it completly. Heroes have a default Dodge maximum of 50% (referred to as a 'soft cap'), which can be increased to 65% with the Clerk background. This cap only affects Dodge obtained through Equipment and Mastery, and can be exceeded by temporary combat buffs up to a maximum of 75% (referred to as 'hard cap'). Damage Over Time and temporary combat debuff status effects cannot be dodged.

Block
Block determines the likelihood of a hero blocking an incoming attack, reducing it's damage by 50%. Heroes have a default Block maximum of 75% (referred to as a 'soft cap'), which has no way of being increased currently. This cap only affects Block obtained through Equipment and Mastery, and can be exceeded by temporary combat buffs without limit (referred to as 'hard cap'). Some heroes receive Block rate as part of their Passive skill, which is applied automatically to the hero and is reflected in its detailed information panel. Damage Over Time status effects cannot be blocked.

Vampirism
Vampirism determines the amount of damage that is converted to healing for a hero upon dealing damage to an enemy unit. There is no limit to the amount of Vampirism a hero can have, except for artificial limitations from the availability of Vampirism through Equipement, Mastery and Background. Vampirism healing is based on the post-reduction damage dealt to a hero, and applies to damage dealt from basic attacks, skills and Damage Over Time status effects.

Toughness
Toughness is a Player vs Player exclusive statistic, available only on ELO 5v5 and ELO 9v9 equipment. It reduces the chance of a hero being critically hit, directly countering the Crit Rate statistic. While unconfirmed, it is believed that Toughness works on a 1:1 ratio to reduce Crit Rate by the same value as the defending hero's Toughness. For example, if an attacking hero has a Crit Rate of 50% and a defending hero has a Toughness of 25%, the attack would have a 25% chance to critically hit (50% (0.5) - 25% (0.25)).

Accuracy
Accuracy is a Player vs Player exclusive statistic, available only on ELO 5v5 and ELO 9v9 equipment. It reduces the chance of an enemy unit dodging an incoming attack, directly countering the Dodge statistic. While unconfirmed, it is believed that Accuracy works on a 1:1 ratio to reduce Dodge by the same value as the attacking hero's Accuracy. For example, if an attacking hero has an Accuracy of 40% and a defending hero has a Dodge of 60%, the attack would have a 20% chance of being dodged (60% (0.6) - 40% (0.4)).

Stun Resist
Stun Resist is a Player vs Player exclusive statistic, available only on ELO 5v5 and ELO 9v9 equipment. It reduces the chance of a hero being affected by a stun from an incoming attack or skill. The likelihood of resisting a stun effect is directly proportional to the Stun Resist value. For example, if a hero has 50% Stun Resist, there is a 50% chance that if they would be stunned by an attack, skill or equipment proc effect, the stun effect is instead ignored.

Element Resist
Every attack, skill and equipment proc has one of six elemental damage types assigned to it (Fire, Ice, Arcane, Neutral, Light, Dark). Element Resist determines the likelihood that a hero ignores an attack, skill, Damage Over Time tick or other effect of a specific element type. The likelihood of this occurring is directly proportional to the respective Element Resist value. For example, if a hero has 10% Light Resist, there is a 10% chance that any attack, skill or Damage Over Time tick with a Light elemental damage type assigned to it will be completely negated.

Skills
Heroes each have a Passive skill, three Active skills and a Spell skill unique to their class. Passive skills are activated by a hero's basic attack only, based on the proc chance specified in the ability's description. Active skills are equipped within the main 'Hero' tab of the Heroes menu, and each has an alternate ability available at Tier 4. Spell skills are equipped via the formation screen, and only a maximum of 3 heroes' Spell skills can be equipped per formation. Hero skills cannot trigger weapon proc effects, and similarly weapon proc effects cannot trigger a hero's Passive skill.

Skill Damage
Many skills state that they deal x% of a hero's Damage as either damage or healing. The expected output of a skill can be determined by multiplying the skill's % modifier by the hero's Damage value (the number next to the skull on the hero's main stat page). Unless a damage skill specifically states it in the description, it's damage is reduced by the target's Armor reduction value in the same way that a basic attack is. This does not apply to healing skills however, which always apply their full expected output to its target. Most skills that deal damage or heal can also critically hit, further increasing their effectiveness by the hero's Crit Damage value, however any skill that scales on a statistic other than Damage, or ignores a target's Armor, cannot critically hit. Damage or healing applied by Damage/Healing Over Time status effects also cannot critically hit and automatically ignore Armor.