Strategy Guides/Monthly Special Generals Analysis

Favor Points or FP is a valuable commodity in the game. Players can use FP in the Oracle page to purchase perks like refills, name change, generals, items etc. Most people look to get new generals that can help them in their play. Treasure chests contain some of the best generals available but they are a gamble. One can spend a lot of FP in there and not get a single general, let alone the one they want.

Castle Age offers an alternative options to non-gamblers in the form of the "Monthly" Specials. Unlike the chest, you can pick who or what you want to get. The generals offered are mostly weaker than the ones found in the chest. An acceptable trade-off to get a guarantee. These generals set are released every two weeks and as such there are already a lot of them available. A lot of people ask for advise on who to get so they could get the best general that would help them the most in their gameplay.

This page will analyze these monthlies: what they do, how they are used and other factors that can affect purchase. It aims to help guide players to make the best choice for their FP investment. More data about these generals are available here as well as their own pages.

Please note that Memnon is not included since he has no buy number and the developers made it clear in their twitter account that they have no plans to make him available again.

Item Bonuses to Consider
Item Bonuses are generally not worth purchase. Most of them give small boosts to the general's stats which while nice for war (if item bonuses are confirmed to work) offers very little in other aspects of the game. Some have effect bonuses to other stats like adds to max stamina, energy, critical rate and damage reduction. These items may or may not be worth the 25 FP they cost but they will be featured and perused to see which ones can be considerable purchases. Items selected supports what the general does. Items that boost your stats are not worth buying regardless of how high the amount of skill points are because 2 10 favor point refills will net you permanent skill points / level ups rather than temporary ones. Items for outdated generals shouldn't be considered at all since you shouldn't even consider buying the general. And no, Malekus does not need souls because Aurora will provide a better bonus without breaking your bank.

Top Prospects
These generals have very good abilities that you should consider buying them first before the others. Keep in mind though that their utilization depends on your play style. So even though they are worth 30 FP, it may not be your 30 FP.

Zin
Stats: 20/20

Ability: Recharge 15 Stamina upto your max when you attack in battles or monsters once per 23 hours.

Notes: Does not work in Raids

Analysis: Zin's ability is remarkable. She adds 15 more stamina to the amount you regen per day. You can have as much as 303 stamina regeneratd per 24 hours. That effectively means reducing your stamina timer by 15 seconds. (Since charge up time is 5 min per stamina, every hour you charge up 12 stamina, and each day you charge up 288 stamina. But if you have 15 more you effectively charge up 303 stamina each day. Since each day have 1440 minutes, now the equivalent charge time per stamina is 1440/303 = 4.75. So you save 0.25 minutes, or 15 seconds.) You have to activate her ability manually by hitting other players or monsters to get it. Be sure that your current stamina count has room to recharge 15 more before using her ability.

Added Analysis: The amount returned is truthfully 14 stamina as you have to spend 1 to get the 15 back. I.e. Only 14, as the 15th stamina returned would be covering what you spent. She is still a very worthwhile investment. If you use her daily, in a 30 day calender month, she would give you a free and total amount of 420 stamina. If you do not have a lot stamina, or you rarely do FP refills; She is a very useful purchase. If you have more than 800 stamina, or you regularely purchase stamina refills; She will only really help your invade strength.

The main argument against Zin is that 30 FP is also equivalent to 3 refills. Depending on your max stamina or energy count, it could take Zin a very long time to match the amount of stamina or energy that the refills recharged. This is true and you should consider this if you are buying refills.

Maalvus
Stats: 23/18

Ability: Increase Cost and Damage of Stamina and Energy Attacks vs Monster by 3x and Increase critical hit rate by 3%

Analysis: The main use of Maalvus is against 2-bar monsters, particularly the next generation monsters (monsters that uses the Monster Class system). You can hit for 3x damage but receive only 1x retalition to the second bar per click. Thus requiring less energy to maintain that bar. Maalvus also saves you clicks if you are in a hurry. And during near level ups, if you have only a few exp needed to the next level and you have quite a lot of energy or stamina available, he can help you use them up so they aren't "wasted" in a sense and also give you some exp boost towards the next level. The added 3% critical rate is great for his use, allowing more chance to score big critical hits.

A neutral stance on Maalvus' use is the exp gains. You can get big exp bonuses with Maalvus if you get lucky. Seeing those are awesome. You have less chances to get them as he triples consumption so in the long run, it evens out.

Dolomar
Stats: 22/18

Ability: Increase critical hit rate by 5%.

Analysis: Critical hits are always good. They give you 2-3x damage against monsters, giving you a good damage-per-stamina ratio. Dolomar improves you chances to hitting criticals by 5%, the best critical general in the game surpassing the Vanguard Chest's epic general, Lotus Ravenmoore. Not only is he better, he is a guaranteed FP purchase. Lotus' only advantage is slightly better attributes, but in monster battles this is negligable.

Crits all depend on your luck with the RNG. You may not notice a difference with the 5% addition and you maybe better off using Maalvus or other attack boosting generals. Consider this is if you are not the crit-savvy player. Otherwise, against monsters without a secondary damage bar, such as the Hydra, or if you plan on making fewer than three attacks, his crit bonus is worth its weight in FP.

Godric
Stats: 20/20

Ability: Increase Max Energy by 20

Analysis: Godric's use is mainly for level-ups. +20 to your Max Energy without penalty to anywhere else is great even for high energy builds. That's equivalent to 1 hour and 40 minutes of wait time. Just remember to equip him when you are about to level.

The downside of Godric is he is mostly limited to level-ups. Maalvus can take his place as your level up general if you end up having a lot of energy or stamina on stock. Godric can also be used for refills but there already is a better general for that. But if you don't have her, Godric is the next best thing. Godric's magic may also worth purchasing as it gives +2 stamina. If Godric is used for level-up, he will give +20 energy and +2 stamina which is equivalent to 22 skill points.

Solara
Stats: 20/22

Ability: Transfer 20% Max Energy to Max Stamina

Analysis: First of all, Solara's ability is an equivalent Skill Point transfer. Stamina costs 2 SP to improve compared to 1 SP of Energy. This means that 20% of your Max Energy will be halved and then added to your Max Stamina. Solara offers flexibility. Being able to transfer max energy to max stamina may come in useful depending on your play circumstances (refills, already done all quests).

Her main use is for stamina refills. She can also be your level up general, if you don't mind taking a hit in your energy. Remember that her effect is percentage based that relies on a player's energy stat. Those with lower energy counts will get less from refills than those with higher ones.

Adriana
Stats: 19/21

Ability: -3 Defense to Opposing War Council

Analysis: Adriana's is a great general for War. She was almost a must-have during Arena S2 when it used the War format. She can turn the tide of the match-up in your favor, provided you and your opponent's score are close. If you are looking for ranking up in War, Adriana is your girl. You can also use her in War of the Red Plains and Lion's Rebellion to give you a boost in Tactics if you are having trouble there.

Her downside is her limited use. You may or may not need Adriana depending on your council set-up. If you couldn't care less in War, you will not see much use for her.

Item to Consider



Type: Amulet

Stats: 10/11

Bonus: +2% Critical when Adriana is equipped

Analysis: +2% is indeed impressive for an equipment as that is equal to 2 generals' ability (Vorenus and Lothar the Ranger. However, criticals are disabled in War so you can only use this in monster fights. Given Adriana's ability, her use is limited down to Tactics which is only available in 2 monsters: War of the Red Plains and Lion's Rebellion. If you have no problem sweeping the council opposition here, you may be better off using other generals like Dolomar.

Scarlett
Stats: 20/20

Ability: Increase income by 6% per hour

Analysis: Gold, gold, gold! That's what Scarlett is about. With the introduction of Obsidian equipment, Seraphim Angels and Platinum Knights and them being a requirement for later quests, gold is not quite useless as it was before. She can also help bringing the cash in for maxing invasion items or some general ability requirements like Azriel's or *gulp* Delfina Cloudslayer. The other advantage is that her stats are much much better compared to the free alternative Mercedes, so you are not leaving yourself as weakened to attacks.

Scarlett only offers 1% more income than her free alternative, Mercedes. It is quite a sum at the higher levels (+72M per day @ 300M income) but whether you want this or not depends on you.

Items to Consider

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Type: Weapon, Armor

Stats: 14/14, 11/14

Bonus: +2 Defense to Scarlett, +2 Defense to Scarlett

Analysis: Since Scarlett is an afk (aka away from keep) general, she'll be defending your keep against challengers. General stats are an afterthought in PvP but maybe that +4 defense would help...maybe not. Upto you but they are inline with what Scarlett is designed to be used for.

Deshara
Stats: 21/19

Ability: Deal +40 additional damage upon victory as Rogue in Guild Battles and Monsters per 1 Token/Stamina

Analysis: If you ever play as Rogue in Guild/Festival battles then Deshara is a Must-Have. With Deshara, you get +40 additional damage per stamina hit. That is about a 16% increase to the average output or an extra attack for every 6 (similar) hits. Truly very useful against the Army of the Apocalypse. With the introduction of Battlegrounds, Rogues will see more use as the Festival Guild Battles has a shortened battle duration and adjusted Stunned status health level. The +damage ability of Rogues is perfect for taking down enemies fast while their Evade skill (combined with Resistance + Raziel/Daphne) would give them more room for survival. Deshara helps in the offense with her ability.

If you don't belong to a guild, then you have no use for her. If you do belong to one and participate in guild monsters often, you have to remember to switch to Rogues for them if you are playing other classes for Guild Battles (Cleric or Mage).

Second Rounders
These generals' abilities are not as good as the top prospects. But they deserve a look or two for those who are not chest gamblers.

Kataan
Stats: 22/22

Ability: Kataan gains +2 to Attack and Defense when he levels up

Analysis:Kataan has one use and one use alone: a War Council member. His stats at level 4 rival rare and even some epic chest generals making him a strong candidate for War.

If you don't War, you don't need Kataan. You maybe useful for Tactics in War of the Red Plains and Lion's Rebellion but even generals with lower stats than him can sweep the opposition if you have good stats and equipment. Also, many of the newest monthly generals are almost as good on either attack or defense, and have additional uses that make them more valuable, so his main advantage becomes the versatility of his balanced 22/22.

Items to Consider

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Type: Weapon, Armor

Stats: 17/12, 14/11

Bonus: +2 Attack to Kataan, +2 Defense to Kataan

Analysis: Taking to account Kataan's use, boosting his own stats makes sense granted they count towards the war council calculation based on what the devs said. Anyways, these items boost Kataan to 24/24 at level 4 making him equivalent of an epic general in terms of stats. Whether you think this is worth 50 additional FP is your call, since Kataan has to be your active general for these bonuses to take effect.

Elora
Stats: 21/20

Ability: Increase Player Attack by 15 and Decrease Max Energy by 15

Analysis: Elora is the FP version of Serene. Slightly better attack and decreases Max Energy instead of Health. She is also the only guaranteed general that improves attack/defense at the cost of energy/stamina. Good for PvP if you don't have anyone better.

Elora is quite limited to PvP. Her attack bonus are not enough to trump the bonus of free generals Vanquish and to some extent, Zarevok or Elin.(That statement is not accurate, She is better than Zarevok & Elin as when you include the difference in stats between the generals along with her bonus she is better. She is also possibly better than Vanquish for partly the same reason and unlike Vanquish, Elora does not lower your defense{which would consequently, lower the amount that's converted to attack}).

Suri
Stats: 21/19

Ability: Increase Player Defense by 0.2 per Hero Owned

Analysis: Mini-Ambrosia. Currently, we have 124 generals. Her potential increases as long as there are generals to collect. She will not trump Ambrosia though but assuming you can not or will not get Ambrosia or other better defenders (like Halcyon), Suri may become powerful to some players in the future. She is a very long term investment though.

Celesta is still your best PvP duel defender. Suri will not best Dante in fortification until you have a total of 105 generals owned. Of course, minus Ambrosia, Halcyon, Corvintheus, Serra Silverlight who are better defenders. Assuming you have that much generals...

Kaylen
Stats: 19/21

Ability: Increase Player Attack by 0.15 per Hero Owned

Analysis: Mini-Malekus. Currently, we have 124 generals. Her potential increases as long as there are generals to collect. She will not trump Malekus though but assuming you can not or will not get Malekus or other better attackers (like Xira), Kaylen may become powerful to some players in the future. She is also a very long term investment.

The downside/downfall/realism: She is not worth buying. It would take so many generals for her to reach an attack bonus equal to even Elora, that most likely you would have spent enough FP's to purchase a chest general who would provide attack bonuses she could never reach. The only reason she is not listed as outdated is that she is guaranteed to increase your attack; albeit if you purchased enough generals to where she is your strongest; its due to bad luck to not have gotten 1 of the several generals better.

Sanna
Stats: 20/21

Ability: Heal +4 additional health when you win as a Cleric in Guild Battles

Analysis: Sanna's ability sounds good at first as she boosts the Cleric Class healing. However, Deianira is still the best guild battle (and monster) general as her ability is multiplied by 10 along with everyone's health in the recent update. Sanna gives you +14 health while Deianira throws in +20 damage to go with the normal +10 healing.

The reason she is not in the dumpsters below is that you may still have some use for her if you are in a situation wherein you need to heal up fast and/or a lot while the remaining enemies still have lots of health (or at least, you won't do enough to bring down the enemy's health and affect their score) and there's only a few minutes, seconds to spare in your fight. Or if you team is extremely tough that you hardly lose but still have to deal with enemy numbers and health. Review your style and think about purchasing. Of course if you don't Guild Battle, you don't need her. Guild Monsters doesn't need her either.

Oberon
Stats: 18/22

Ability: Increase Max Health by 25 as a Warrior

Analysis: Health is very important in Guild Battles. Oberon is currently the best Health modifier general. Being a Warrior class exclusive, he is a step in the right direction in making the most underplayed class competitive in Guild Battles. If you have the tools to set-up a great Warrior (have Whirlwind, Shout/Leadership, Confidence) and is a serious Guild Battle player, Oberon is a good choice to "complete" your set-up. His ability is mainly used at the beginning of battle, then switching to another general like Deianira. His bonus can make you take 1-4 extra hits. If you think this is worth 30 FP or not is upto you.

Daphne
Stats: 17/23

Ability: While defending in guild battles, deflect 20 damage back to the attacker

Analysis: As with her flavor text, Daphne is all about survival. Equip her instead of Deianira when you are defending as you take less damage while dealing that 20 extra back regardless of the duel outcome. Health is wealth in GB's so being able to reduce what you take while increasing what you can dish out is gold. (Though Sanna and Zurran are platinum if you have a great build and if you have them and playing as their respective class exclusives, you may forgo Daphne and boost your gate healing/damaging abilities instead.)

She's limited in Guild Battles (and Guild Monsters too but those things don't attack) so if you aren't involved in this part of the game, keep your 30 FP for something else. Also, because Deianira, who doesn't cost any FP, is more versatile since her ability also works on attack, you have to consider whether you're on the defense a lot. Daphne is good for mage builds who tend to use Polymorph or Confuse, and Rogues and Clerics who have another general for attacking, otherwise Deianira may fill your needs.

Tyxeros
Stats: 21/20

Ability: Highly randomizes base damage in guild battles and monsters, from 0 to 340

Analysis: Tyxeros allows players to "critical hit" in guild battles. However, his lowest damage output is 0 meaning you can give your enemy a free evade or worse, heal him(!) if he has resistance equipped. So use him against enemies with lots of health left and avoid him on people that are 1-2 hits away from going down. Healthy players would want to use a more reliable/consistent general like (Deshara, Zurran, Deianira, Sanna) but stunned players may want to give Tyxeros a spin. Able to deal damage as if you are not stunned is pretty tempting. Guilds can also use him as a last, desperate attempt to steal a victory if their cleric Heal spam is not enough to put them ahead. If they are sure they're going to lose, might as well pull out this chaos card.

Since Tyxeros is a guild specialist, those who aren't interested would have no use for him. Those who aren't into gambling and/or prefer to have a steady and sure stream of damage will not be happy with this guy.

Aethyx
Stats: 24/18

Ability: Increase Poison damage by +10 and round duration by +2

Analysis: Aethyx only works with the Rogue skill Poison. Normally, the skill does +35 damage to a poisoned opponent over the course of 5 rounds, if Dispel or Cleanse is not applied. Aethyx increases this effect to +45 damage over the course of 7 rounds. It is a great skill for Rogues and only takes 1 victorious shot to inflict an opponent with it. This means that you only need to equip Aethyx when inflicting poison, then switch to Deshara for your normal hits. With this you can get +185 bonus damage (without Shout/Leadership) for the next 7 rounds! The already deadly Rogues becomes deadlier in Festival Battles.

Although Poison also works in Guild Monsters, it's not as efficient like in Guild Battles. The damage does not magnify along with the amount of stamina used. Whether you used 1 stamina or 50 stamina, the same +35 or +45 damage is applied. And as usual for guild specialists, those who aren't into them have no use for him.

Syren
Stats: 23/19

Ability: Increase chance for confused target to attack him/herself by +10%

Analysis: Syren only works with the Mage skill Confuse. Normally, the skill has a 20% chance for a confused target to attack him/herself over the course of 5 rounds, if Dispel or Cleanse is not applied. Syren increases this effect to 30% chance. Syren is a good general to cast Confuse on opponents who like to attack their way out of the debuff.

The issue with Syren is that Confuse is already a great stalling skill in itself, enough that coordinated guilds with dedicated clerics will dispel/cleanse it before the inflicted target starts attacking and "use up" his confusion rounds. Unlike Poison, Confuse will block an attack, only give out 50 BAP if the effect triggers and only exhausts its rounds when the confused target uses his/her tokens. This means that the enemy guild mostly has control of the confusion rounds. With dedicated dispellers/cleansers, Syren's ability will not see much effect in most regular guild battles. In Festival Battles, guilds may opt to use Heal instead and just attack out of it. This is where Syren will mostly see more use although mages would also have to decide if they want to spend their limited tokens on using their innate splash damage or disrupting the enemy ranks with Confuse.

Although Confuse also works in Guild Monsters, it's a waste of stamina as monsters will not attack back and thus not hit themselves in the process.

Shivak
Stats: 19/23

Ability: Boost Fortitude health increase by +60%

Analysis: Shivak only works with the Cleric skill Fortitude. Normally, the skill can increase a target's health by 40 to 100. Shivak can increase this numbers to 64 to 160.

The bonus rate of Shivak is great, the skill Fortitude however is not. It cannot be stack that means an ally can only have 1 Fortitude buff at any time. A guild with good gate formation and coordination would have little use of this skill. Although having high amount of health helps in guild battles, if the guild is good enough and/or has enough support to keep reviving people, the max health won't be so important. And as such Heal is a more efficient skill to use tokens for rather than Fortitude. Even with Shivak, the health boost of this skill is quite low for it to be a good token sponge. If there are players who would probably make the most efficient use of Fortitude buff, it will be Warriors with low max health. This class has no defensive abilities to stall or scare away suiciders and would need all the health they can get if the other guild starts targeting him/her due to Whirlwind + Shout/Leadership + Confidence offensive combo.

Although Fortitude also works in Guild Monsters, it's a waste of stamina as monsters will not attack back so your guild has full control on your own health.

Outdated
These generals have useful abilities but are rendered obsolete with the release of some generals in the top prospects batch who do and offer more.

Barbarus
Stats: 21/18

Ability: Increase Cost and Damage of Stamina and Energy Attacks vs Monster by 3x.

Analysis: Barbarus was most people's general of choice (sides the Orc King) against 2-bar monsters. With the release of Maalvus, he's relegated to the bench.

Aria
Stats: 16/19

Ability: Increase Max Energy by 10

Analysis: Aria was a queen of leveling before Godric came out.

Minerva
Stats: 20/18

Ability: Increase Max Stamina by 6

Analysis: Another queen of leveling. Though not as outdated as Aria but still looks pretty weak nowadays. If you prefer stamina over energy, Minerva gives +6 without any penalties. If you have no problems with an energy "penalty", she is dwarfed by Solara.

Kaiser
Stats: 20/19

Ability: Increase critical hit rate by 3%

Analysis: With the release of Dolomar, Kaiser has become obsolete. Not even his Backdraft combo could warrant a purchase now.

Slayer
Stats: 19/18

Ability: Increase critical hit rate by 3%

Analysis: Equivalent to Kaiser in terms of ability. But inferior everywhere else.

Collection Purposes
These generals have weak abilities that they are mostly only bought for the sake of buying or collection purposes. Generals with superior abilities are found elsewhere.

Azalia
Stats: 21/19

Ability: +5 Attack to your Mage Tower

Analysis: Boosting only one slot in war is weak when there are generals that boost all seven. Could be useful in Lion's Rebellion since Aurelius (unknown stats, equipped with heavy gear) is seen to be moving to the second war slot if you use Tactics. If you are losing, maybe Azalia is can make a difference. Even then Adriana should be enough to red-cross the rebel.

Therian
Stats: 23/19

Ability: +25 Player Attack againast Monsters

Analysis: A stronger version of Zarevok/Elin. The boost makes Therian a good monster hunter general but with the way monsters are nowadays (Next Generation 2-bar, Guild Monsters), you're probably be better off with Maalvus, Dolomar and/or Deshara if you don't have anyone better.

Gawain
Stats: 18/22

Ability: +10 Attack on your next 4 actions per 6 hours

Analysis: Gawain is the "brother of Phaethor". His bonus is weaker but you can do it more times before the cooldown is set. The sad thing is that +10 attack is small and compared to Elora (who is also a monthly general), who gives a better +15 attack and has no cooldown, Gawain is a joke.

Azul
Stats: 20/20

Ability: Increase Player Attack and Player Defense by 5

Analysis: General boosting 2 stats is not good since the stat additions are split and makes the overall effect weak. There are arguments that Azul is for Guild Battles as his boost is half of what the Warrior Class offers. Still the +5 to both stats most of the time will not make any difference at all.

Lailah
Stats: 18/20

Ability: Increase Player Defense by 5 and Max Energy by 6

Analysis: Another multi-stat boosting general. Lailah seems to be for fortification as she boosts Defense and Energy. However, the additions are weak that she won't take Dante's spot (at least, if you have no better ones) as your repairman/healer.

Gorlak
Stats: 18/18

Ability: Increase Player Attack and Max Stamina by 2

Analysis: The third multi-stat boosting general, and the worst of the three. As opposed to Lailah, Gorlak is for offense as he boosts Attack and Stamina. The bonus he gives is pathetic.

Crissana
Stats: 22/18

Ability: Increase All Player Stats by 4

Analysis: Well now...this general doesn't boost just 2 stats, she boosts all 5 (Energy, Stamina, Attack, Defense, Health). Sounds impressive but suffers the same fate as the other multi-stat boosting generals. CA's general system just doesn't "need" this type of generals unless the additions are heavy enough to take the role of 5 or even just 3 generals.

However, if you buy her items that give +4 stamina, she may become a good level up general, with +4 energy and +8 stamina upon level up. That is equivalent to +20 skill points.

Fenris
Stats: 19/19

Ability: Increase Player Attack by 6

Analysis: Fenris boosts player attack. His bonus is equal to that of Nautica, a gold bought general.

Lyra
Stats: 22/16

Ability: Increase Player Attack by 6; Lyra gains +2 attack when she levels up

Analysis: Same with Fenris but with a little twist to her own stats. Still no better.

Dexter
Stats: 16/22

Ability: Increase Player Defense by 6; Dexter gains +2 defense when he levels up

Analysis: Defense version of Lyra.

Final Words
If you would like to offer you insight on these generals and maybe their items, please make you ideas heard (or read) by writing them in the discussion area.