Introduction
In the AFK Journey arena, the key to success is to know your enemy, and to tailor your team towards countering each player in your local bracket, rather than using the same team for every purpose. In this guide, we’ll go over some meta Arena team archetypes, and which maps to use them in. This guide will be updated as new characters are released and the pvp meta evolves.
Check out our Supreme Arena Guide here!
Now let us take a look at some of the popular Team Archetypes!
Harak Hypercarry
A team that supports Harak to build him into an unstoppable force. Attack focused.
- Bring Harak: Harak is the main carry, and with his heal denial skill, he can help lock down enemy units to get the first kill and start snowballing out of control.
![Harak]()
- Pick 2 Supports: We typically want one fast-acting support, such as Damian or
![Damian]()
Ludovic and a slow but powerful support such as![Ludovic]()
Hewynn or![Hewynn]()
Koko to complement each other.![Koko]()
- Pick a Tank: We need someone to hold the line long enough for Harak to get his first kill. Phraesto works best with Harak’s friendly-fire gimmick, and also provides energy regen, but any tank will do in a pinch.
![Phraesto]()
- Pick a DPS: We need a powerful secondary carry to help Harak secure his first kill, that can be Lily May
![Lily May]()
Vala![Vala]()
Silvina and so on - anyone who can secure kills.![Silvina]()
This team is very hard to stop once it gets going, and it works in most maps. Requires high investment on Harak for best results.
Not as strong on defense as there are many counters and ways to take out Harak before he can do his thing if the attacker is prepared.
Eironn Nuke Team
In this team, your strategy is to kill the enemy before they kill you, through overwhelming burst damage potential.
- Bring Eironn: He is the character who comes to mind when we think about who enables the very idea of a “Nuke Team”. But only strictly necessary in the Eironn variant.
![Eironn]()
- Pick 2+ DPS: Pick characters with high burst damage potential, and who benefit from crowd control synergy.
- Pick a Tank. Or don’t: This role is optional, Eironn can be used as a Tank thanks to his high Dodge Rate allowing him to avoid damage enough that you can bring more DPS carries. Of particular interest in the Tank role, is Ulmus, as he enables powerful synergy with Eironn’s crowd control, as long as Eironn’s ultimate is not interrupted
![Ulmus]()
- Pick a Support. Or don’: This role is optional, if running a more aggressive variant, we can ditch our support role entirely, but this is risky, because if the enemy manages to survive the initial burst and stabilize through healing, shields, and damage reduction, you won’t have a way to recover.
- Pick a Celestial/Hypogean. Or don’t: This role is optional. A Celestial/Hypogean character (or CH, as we’ll start calling them for brevity.) can help deal more damage, or offer sustain. In the late game we should have at least one of these to work with so might be worth slotting them into the team.
This used to be the main meta team in late-game arena, until 
But if the enemy doesn’t have Lily May, this is still one of the best teams to use.
Dionel Hypercarry
This is technically another type of nuke team, if your 
- Bring Dionel: Dionel is best used as a build-around unit, being the most straightforward of the Celehypos, he just deals damage, so we’ll focus on amplifying that even further.
![Dionel]()
- Pick 2 Supports: More specifically, “buffers”. We want two support characters offering different Stat-boosting buffs to feed Dionel’s Intoxication stacks. Typically that means ATK, Haste and ATK SPD, but all stat-boosting buffs work.
- Pick 2 from Tank/DPS/CH: This is our flex slot, we can bring pretty much anyone, either to increase the team’s damage output, or survivability.
- Dunlingr in is the ideal Celestial partner for Dionel, as he allows Dionel to still do his thing while also hindering the enemy team. But he is otherwise a niche hero and does not see much use outside this particular team so think twice before going all in on Dunlingr for Dionel.
![Dunlingr]()
- Harak is sometimes paired with Dionel as well in whale teams as Dionel helps him secure kills and snowball out of control, but it quickly becomes a very expensive team to invest in at this rate.
![Harak]()
Some of the highest burst damage potential in the game. This team is sometimes used by whales who had the spare resources to invest in Dionel rather than the more utility-focused Celehypos. Requires very high investment up to Paragon tiers on Dionel to be competitive with other meta teams.
Not as strong on defense against near-peer attackers, Dionel’s position at the back of the team also makes him especially vulnerable to assassin teams.
Heal Stall Team
A powerful stall team that can also work on attack. Defense focused.
- Bring Scarlita or DPS: Scarlita ends up being the main source of damage on this team, as well as making the frontline tankier, and she is what allows the team to get kills at all by using her instakill mechanic. But you can also just run your best dps carry in this slot.
![Scarlita]()
- Pick a Tank: This is a stall team so bringing a tank goes without saying.
- Pick 2 Supports: We want our supports to provide a constant flow of healing to keep the team going as long as possible.
- Pick a DPS: It is advised to bring a strong damage carry such as Lily May, as the days of pure stall teams are long gone.
![Lily May]()
This team is geared towards a defensive gameplan. Ideally, we want to survive the enemy’s first burst of damage and then take advantage of superior sustain to win in the end
While this team still works depending on the server arena meta, with increasingly powerful units being released, it has been largely superseded by the following 
Talene/Tasi Revive Stall Team
A team designed to survive against overwhelming burst damage, then strike back with a deadly counterattack.
- Bring Talene: Talene is a powerful damage dealer, enabled by healing, who can come back from the dead and deal damage in a large area, and is one of the main carries of this team.
![Talene]()
- Bring Tasi: Tasi is another character who can revive after dying and can often solo the entire enemy team even after her own team has perished. Greatly benefits from energy regen.
![Tasi]()
- Pick a Support (Optional): Any support will do, but following the revival theme, Damian tends to be the best pick as he can just summon another cart if his first cart is destroyed, enabling Talene and Tasi to come back stronger than ever. But this role is optional, both characters can survive on their own with some luck, and some players drop the support slot entirely in order to bring more DPS carries.
![Damian]()
- Pick a Tank: We may want a Tank in order to buy some time for the rest of the team to do their thing. Phraesto in particular can be a powerful choice thanks to his energy regen buffs, and ability to summon a new close at EX +15.
![Phraesto]()
Thoran also works as he can revive after an initial burst. Another option is![Thoran]()
Satrana, as she does very well against the Magic DMG meta.![Satrana]()
- Pick a DPS: Bring your best DPS carry in this slot, or one that is useful against a specific enemy defense.
This team is notorious for often surviving against the burst damage of 
This immortality can still be countered by 
Mauler Rush
A dive-type team that gets all up in the enemy’s business. Attack oriented.
- Bring Shakir or Lenya: Shakir is the biggest enabler of mauler melee teams, being tanky enough to fight in the front lines as long as he can stay alive long enough to pop his ult, and providing powerful buffs to the team.
![Shakir]()
Lenya works particularly well in open maps and favours CC variants of this team along with![Lenya]()
Alsa.![Alsa]()
- Pick 2 DPS: Preferably mauler faction heroes, but you can experiment with melee characters from other factions too. Alsa can help enable control variants of this team as well.
- Pick a Tank: Mauler has resilient tanks who can keep the rest of the team alive long enough for Shakir to get his ult out, but you can also experiment with other faction tanks. Satrana is not a tank but can function much like one in a magic damage oriented meta.
![Satrana]()
- Pick a Support or Specialist: Someone to keep this team going just long enough to rush the enemy. You don’t necessarily need a dedicated healer, as some Specialists can also provide shields or healing. Reinier can be very useful to throw a mauler into the enemy backline and take out healers or a damage carry as soon as possible.
![Reinier]()
This team can be very resilient, while also dishing out CC and damage. F2P friendly. Works best at the start of a new server where players don’t have many Celestial/Hypogean characters, or in Supreme Arena. Not as strong in the late game regular arena.
Assassin Team
A team geared towards fighting other burst teams by taking out priority targets before they can pose a thread. Attack Oriented.
- Bring Vala: Vala is a powerful assassin who can target one backline enemy and keep them from using their ultimate by removing their energy with her attacks, and is a staple in any assassin team.
![Vala]()
- Bring Silvina: Silvina is often used as part of an inseparable duo with Vala, as these two combined can quickly take out the enemy backline, especially if they get to target the same enemy.
![Silvina]()
- Pick 2+ DPS: As this is an Assassin Team that focuses entirely on damage, we can afford to bring all our best damage carries to take out the enemy as quickly as possible and add redundancy against enemy defenses. Lily May and
![Lily May]()
Bonnie are among the best choices, but any DPS will do.![Bonnie]()
- Pick a Support and/or Tank(Optional): One can bring a Support or Tank if we believe the enemy may still pose a threat after the initial burst and want a chance to recover, or to buy enough time to finish the job.
This team is often the best against teams that rely on a powerful main carry, such as 
Defense Examples / Meta Snapshot
Here we’ll showcase some popular defense teams using a mix of the above archetypes. Arena 3 and Arena 5 - Special are the most popular maps for defense, the former due to being immune to Reinier manipulation, and the latter due to energy tiles.
ARENA 3
Team #1 - HARAK HYPERCARRY
Comments: 
Team #2 - DIONEL HYPERCARRY
Comments: While this version has
Team #3 - EIRONN NUKE TEAM
Comments: This aggressive variant is best used in attack teams. 
Team #4 - HEAL STALL TEAM
Comments: Different supports can be used, at the cost of faction bonuses.
Team #5 - TALENE REVIVE TEAM
Comments: 
ARENA 5
Team #1 - HARAK HYPERCARRY
Comments: Energy tiles enable a more aggressive melee team-backed team.
Team #2 - EIRONN NUKE TEAM
Comments: Can be changed to include more burst damage
