Arena of Honor S5 R15: The Awakening of the Furious Greatsword

Dear Lords, it’s time for this week’s report once again. This week’s Arena of Honor marks the final round of Season 5. Amai made a rare effort to get up early to take part in the first event of this round—not for any other reason, but because my commander line-up has finally received a major boost. I’m absolutely thrilled and can’t wait to jump into battle to see how it compares to before.

【Awakeing of Vorian】

Amai has never been a player who spends heavily, so when I first decided to play as an infantry player, my approach to team-building was primarily focused on assembling a combat squad at a reasonable cost. At the time, I chose to use Sirana and Rhea, paired with three free commanders: Chris, Barret and Lareo; These three commanders are by no means top-tier, but they are easy to obtain, have low awakening costs, and their awakening skills are quite practical. My young mate Ge0muni essentially followed my approach when building his team as well.

However, as the game has progressed, all players’ line-ups have grown stronger, so improving my own line-up has become a challenge I cannot ignore. As I’ve said, I’m not a big spender; even after seven years of playing, I haven’t even attained the ‘Royal Lord’ VIP status; However, Amai is a patient person; I’m very good at snapping up the high-quality discounted bundles offered by GTArcade, and I actively participate in events such as the Day of Trade to obtain free legendary commanders. Prior to this, I had already acquired the free Awakened Daeron with virtually no expenditure of Black Diamonds—he is a top-tier commander who packs a powerful punch in an infantry bleed synergy build—but over the past year, I’ve gradually begun to feel out of my depth; In last season’s Arena of Honor, I was reduced to little more than a supporting role; after all, a line-up lacking a commander capable of turning the tide of battle is insufficient to serve as the rally leader for a leading assault.

Although Daeron is powerful, he can only serve as a support in an infantry bleed synergy composition. If you truly wish to significantly bolster such a composition, there is another Commander who is the perfect choice: Vorian! Vorian’s Awakening Skill, ‘Furious Greatsword’, allows him to reflect the damage he takes back onto his opponent under certain conditions, stacking up to a maximum of five times. In the past, whenever I faced opponents with similar line-ups and stats, I could only watch in despair if they had Vorian in their team. But this round, I’ve finally managed to successfully level Vorian up! So, let’s take a look at how Amai, with his refined team composition, performed in actual combat during this round of the Arena of Honor!

In this round, the strongest player on our team is JustKebab from the PHX alliance, who commands a cavalry unit led by the beauty Brienne, whilst Dothrakey leads a spearmen unit commanded by Sararer; as for the infantry, it seems I’ll be taking the lead. Although this is a team put together at short notice, judging by our pre-match discussions, everyone’s been very active. Right then, let the game begin!

【The Dance of Water Blooms】

The Arena of Honor is, on the one hand, a contest of military strength, whilst on the other, the application of strategy is what ultimately determines the outcome. Our team leader, JackWhite, appeared to be highly experienced; at the outset, he issued clear and effective orders to capture the mirror NPC’s main city, as well as the catapults and watchtowers, and we got off to a very good start; During the battle, I came across Stepanida from House of Targaryen. He appeared to share almost exactly the same approach to team composition as I do; we had virtually identical commanders and combat advisers with extremely high similarity scores, and even our combat stats were remarkably close. Had this been the previous round, facing an opponent with Vorian, I would have steered clear to avoid making life difficult for myself. This time, however, I was determined to seize the opportunity to properly assess how far I’d progressed…

When I sent the team out, I actually felt a sense of anticipation. When you finally get the chance to take on an opponent you’ve previously been afraid to face head-on, I’m sure you’ll feel the same excitement. Guess what?

An unexpected and crushing defeat quickly shattered my naive self-confidence

I was somewhat surprised by this outcome; I didn’t think I’d be able to completely overwhelm Stepanida, though I had originally expected an extremely close-fought battle. Clearly, Sirana’s weapon proved remarkably effective at this moment! A max-level ‘Dance of Water’ has a very high chance of triggering multiple additional attacks, which is the very foundation of the bleed synergy build’s strength. This gap has served as a significant wake-up call for me and has given me a clear direction for my next efforts; it has certainly not been in vain!

Legendary weapon proved to be the key to my fail in this battle, and it has also guided my next steps. I’d like to thank my opponents; I will always learn from them, yet remain unyielding.

【Facing Grey Worm’s Tactical Challenge】

Midway through the game, I noticed a player in House of Targaryen named Rafab, whose Lord was Grey Worm—a top-tier commander who’d only recently been released. If a Spearman player had him, he certainly shouldn’t be underestimated, and he’d already secured a foothold in the City of Glory. In truth, I’m well aware that Rafab is not an opponent I can currently defeat, but we have no choice. In any case, if we want to win, we simply have to give it a go!

Although it’s a team that was put together at short notice, most of the members are incredibly enthusiastic and have provided JustKebab and me with military support. I’m actually a bit worried—I certainly don’t want these people to lose their troops for nothing.

【A Comeback Victory in the Mine Shaft Strategy】

Working alongside JustKebab, we managed to capture the City of Glory on several occasions, but as soon as Rafab regrouped, it was virtually impossible for us to hold it. Rafab’s team composition was very clear: their formidable weakness synergy spearmen, combined with Baelish’s relentless suppression, completely overwhelmed our female formation. After a few rounds of trial and error, we immediately decided to shift our focus to securing the mine points we could capture. Since Rafab were confined to the City of Glory, it would be far from straightforward for them to hold us off at other mine shaft!

The defeat in this battle came as no surprise; Baelish is simply the natural nemesis of the Female Synergy team.

Given that our forces far outnumber those of Rafab, it is true that we do have a chance of winning a battle, but they are unlikely to give up so easily.

Even if the difference in numbers narrows, my infantry will still not be enough to secure victory

By the end of the match, we still hadn’t managed to capture the City of Glory, but thanks to our tactical decision to switch our focus to the mines at just the right moment and secure points there, we finished in first place. It wasn’t a perfect ending, but it was certainly a well-balanced outcome.

It’s quite interesting: although we’ve captured the majority of the buildings and mines, putting us in first place, House Targaryan has overtaken us in the overall score by capturing the City of Glory.



【Season Review】

Following this round of the Arena of Honor, Amai’s points total for this season has reached 516. Although I didn’t quite make it into the Glory King tier, I’ve already doubled my score from last season. This competition has also given me some inspiration for my next step—what directions do you think I should take to keep improving? Should I focus on levelling ‘Dance of Water’ up to four stars? Or should I try to obtain the Awakened Jon Snow through free events to strengthen my commander line-up? Do you have any other suggestions? Let’s have a chat about it!