Arena of Honor: Season 5 Round 4 | The Last Second

This fifth season of Arena of Honor trudges on, and this week our team is preparing for the fourth battle. Following the last match, the overall vibe amongst our group had changed. We hadn’t secured a first place yet this season, but we were feeling heavily encouraged by our ability to grow a bit better with each fight we played together. No matter what placement we would achieve this round, the hope was for continued growth as a team, and to keep up our good luck with matchmaking on the battlefield

When it was finally time for us to deploy, this time in the House Lannister corner, we could see that at least our matchmaking luck had continued. House Stark was made up of a strong RRH group, who we knew would be our toughest opponents, and in House Targaryen we could see a few of our friends from BDR in a mixed group of players. This map would certainly be competitive, and it would be interesting to see which strategies would pull ahead. 

Taking Castles

This time in the first few minutes of the match, it came as no surprise to us when our army captured the House Baratheon Clan Castle to our right while we were still building up our Strongholds into Infantry Camps. Soon after, we were evicting House Tyrell from their castle as well. Capturing two extra castles this early in the map sent us straight to the top of the scoreboard, which was encouraging. It would take a lot of coordination on our part to maintain hold of so much territory for the rest of the battle, but we were prepared for the challenge. 

Altar Rallies

As the battle opened up, our first place position would begin to be threatened. House Stark’s strategies had them not far off from our score, as they had also captured an extra Clan Castle, and gotten a headstart in the Altars while we were still busy building up our new Strongholds. When it was finally our time to fight for the Altars, our strongest fighter Belore was eager to give House Stark a run for their money. His first defense against RRH’s Win01 was successful, but a secondary hit was enough to kick us out. A few minutes later, he had his chance for revenge, sending a rally to remove House Stark from our Altar of the Maiden. 

At the halfway point of the match, we still held onto our first place position. But the opening of the City of Glory had the potential to rattle the scoreboard. House Stark and House Targaryen were at odds for the City almost immediately. After holding up through attacks from all sides, House Targaryen were the first to officially claim the castle, shifting them up to the second place position. But it would turn out that the center city on this map would be a tricky one to hold, much to our advantage.

While House Stark and House Targaryen continue the battle at the center of the map, our focus remains on cleaning up our Altars and maintaining our territory. We’ve held up solid defenses so far, but as the fight becomes more chaotic it becomes trickier to keep reinforcements flowing. Twice House Baratheon kicks us from their Clan Castle, but with some quick rallies from Belore we’re always able to reclaim it. As we watch the Glory City change hands to House Stark, and their score boost above ours, it becomes clear that we may need to get involved in that fight as well in order to have a chance at finishing in rank one.

We’ve made it to the final 5 minutes of battle, so the stakes are as high as possible. If House Stark holds the Glory City at the end of the match, our first place finish is lost. Belore and DYW call out to fill their rallies quickly, and we wait with our breath held to see how they will land at the castle. There’s disappointment when we see that our hits aren’t enough to win the city. But miraculously it is just enough to clear the way for House Targaryen to land in the castle just after us, and remove House Stark. 

Will Targaryen Hold?

With just four minutes and fifteen seconds remaining in the fight, if House Targaryen holds up their defenses it’s looking like the win could be ours! But it will truly come down to the last second. There’s nothing left for us to do but watch and countdown the final seconds. After four tense minutes and wave after wave of attacks from House Stark, finally House Targaryen secures the city. With the final tick of the clock, our House Lannister boosts to the top of the scoreboard, and our cheers are mixed with laughter that it took the help of our enemies to get us there.

With that our group finally had our first rank one finish of the season. We had gone from finishing that first match feeling low and out of our element, to celebrating a well-played match with a miraculous ending.