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 game play.

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 cannot be purchased at this time 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 purchasing. 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 improvements 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 support what the general does.

Top Prospects
These generals have very good abilities and 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.

Annika
Stats: 33/28 Ability: Physical Pierce +50 Analysis: With the new Piercing and Resistance feature, Annika is a must-get monthly for those who want to improve their competitiveness in PvP and keep pace with the latest monsters. This general is better than Aesir in both stats and ability. However, if you are at a lower level, Aesir is a good substitute. For monster hunting, the +50 pierce is useful against monsters with piercing resistance, like Fenix and Kessaran.

Take note that Annika's ability does not work while defending in both PvP and monster hunting. For those who aren't touching the latest monsters and gets better boost with Evalice or Xira (if they have them), what Annika offers may not be of use. Unless maybe they start losing to some people (whom they could regularly beat before) with Vanir.

Minimum level required to buy: 460

Kanbe
Stats: 31/24 Ability: Physical Pierce +20, Earth Pierce +10, Divine Power 20 Analysis: Great stats, physical pierce, earth pierce, and Divine Power? Kanbe is almost too good for a monthly general. A great choice for monsters like Kessaran, who has both physical resistance and divine armor, and really nasty against Vorak, who Kanbe will blast through his physical armor, hit the earth weakness, and help pierce the Divine armor!

Kanbe is also good for PvP fights, and as people gain more physical resistance equipment, elemental attacks will become more useful. As of the writing of this, he is also the only non-chest general with Divine power (aside from Dexter the Drunk, who is no longer available).

Take note that Kanbe's ability does not trigger while defending.

Minimum level required to buy: 400

Item to Consider:

Type: Boots Stats: 6/2 Analysis: Since the introduction of footwear to Castle Age, the field has been rather thin. Gaia Boots are not only one of the best ones out there stat-wise, these boots send Kanbe to an impressive 36/24!
 * Gaia Boots.jpg Boots
 * Bonus: +5 Attack to Kanbe

Vanathan
Stats: 29/33 Ability: Physical Resistance +50 Analysis: And with a single release, the best defense general was dethroned. Vanathan not only sports better stats then many chest generals, but also comes with an impressive +50 physical resistance.

Confused on how to figure out which of the defense generals are best for you?

Celesta gives a flat +22 Defense when attacked.

For approximately every 20 points of Defense, Vanathan gives you +1 Defense. If your Defense is 460 or greater, then he is better then Celesta.

For about every 13 1/3 points of Attack, Halcyon gives a +1 Defense. If your Attack is 294 or greater, then she is better then Celesta.

Where Vanathan really shines is that you take no hits to your other stats. He has superior stats to many of the chest generals as well. Physical Resistance does, however, weaken quickly with every point of Physical Pierce you are attacked with. Caveat Emptor.

Minimum level required to buy: ??

Zin
Stats: 20/20

Ability: Recharge 15 Stamina up to 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. If you use her daily, in a 30-day calender month, she will give you a total amount of 420 stamina. 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.

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 120

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 use the Monster Class system). You can hit for 3x damage but receive only 1x retaliation 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 when you're near to a level-up, if you need only a few exp to advance to the next level and you have quite a lot of energy or stamina available, he can help you use it up so it isn't "wasted", 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, but you have less chances to get them as he triples consumption, so in the long run it evens out.

Minimum level required to buy: 230 

Dolomar
Stats: 22/18 Ability: Increase critical hit rate by 5% against monsters. Analysis: Critical hits are always good. They give you 2-3x damage against monsters, giving you a good damage-per-stamina ratio. Dolomar improves your 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 negligible.

Crits all depend on your luck with the RNG. You may not notice a difference with the 5% addition and you're 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.

Minimum level required to buy: 200

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 110

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 as 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, or even worse, Zeventis' 500(!) Obsidian Swords. 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.

Minimum level required to buy: 110

, 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. Up to you but they are in line with what Scarlett is designed to be used for.
 * Items to Consider

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).

Minimum level required to buy: 180

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.

Aesir
Stats: 26/22 Ability: Physical Pierce +40 Analysis: With the new Piercing and Resistance feature, Aesir is a decent general to get. If you are have a particularly high level, Annika would be a better candidate. While not as good as she, he does add to her ability with the new General Alliance feature.

This general's ability gives a 4% boost to a player's PvP attack power and could be better than Evalice depending on their stat allocation. For monster hunting, the +40 pierce is useful against monsters with piercing resistance, like Fenix and Kessaran.

Take note that Aesir's ability does not work while defending in both PvP and monster hunting. For those who aren't touching the latest monsters and gets better boost with Evalice or Xira (if they have them), what Aesir offers may not be of use. Unless maybe they start losing to some people (whom they could regularly beat before) with Vanir.

Must be level 370 to see Aesir on home screen to purchase.

Vanir
Stats: 21/28 Ability: Physical Resistance +40 Analysis: As with her brother above, Vanir was ursurped by newer releases. Though with the General Alliance system, she still can add +20 Physical Resistance to Vanathan, making her still well worth purchasing.

Take note that Vanir's ability does not trigger while attacking. Also her defending bonus is only for PvP and does not apply when healing and using other energy moves in monster battles.

Minimum level required to buy: 370

Frost
Stats: 25/25 Ability: Physical Pierce +20, Water Pierce +10 Analysis: Ability-wise, she is in the same league as Kanbe, but she has weaker stats and no Divine Power. Her Water Pierce, however, can be very useful against Fenix, against whom she deals the most damage of all Elemental generals. She can also be more useful in PvP against an opponent with Fire Resistance.

Take note that Frost's ability does not trigger while defending.

Minimum level required to buy: 380

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 main 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. She is also only slightly better than the free general Hyperion.

Minimum level required to buy: 130

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 there, you may be better off using other generals like Dolomar.
 * Item to Consider

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 24 skill points.

Since the inclusion of the hero Kilgore, an easy alchemy make, Godric has become a lot less useful for those who prefer bonus stamina than energy. Kilgore provides +10 stamina, the equivalent of Godric's energy boost considering that increasing a stamina point requires 2 skill points as opposed to 1.

Minimum level required to buy: 130

Suri
Stats: 21/19 Ability: Increase Player Defense by 0.2 per Hero Owned Analysis: Mini-Ambrosia. Currently, we have 152 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.

It would take 115 generals for her to beat Celesta's PvP defense bonus (130 to beat Dante in Fortifications). If you have that many generals, you probably have someone that can offer more than 22 defense boost. Her real competition is Ambrosia, Corvintheus, Aurelius and Halcyon since they are the only ones who have no limit to their defense bonus.

Minimum level required to buy: 100

Kaylen
Stats: 19/21 Ability: Increase Player Attack by 0.15 per Hero Owned Analysis: Mini-Malekus. Currently, we have 152 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 or Evalice), Kaylen may become powerful to some players in the future. She is also a very long term investment.

It would take 107 generals for her to beat Elora's attack bonus. If you have that many generals, you probably have someone that can offer more than 16 attack boost. Her real competition is Malekus, Aurora, Jahanna, Evalice and Xira since they are the only ones who have no limit to their attack bonus.

Caine
Stats: 22/22 Ability: +3% damage in exchange for 400k gold per stamina used against monsters Analysis: Caine is a damage-up general against monsters with a twist. You have to "pay" for his services with gold. Players who complain about having bajillions of gold with nothing to spend on can burn some money on this guy. Since Caine's output is fixed (in relation to a players damage per attack), one can easily calculate how much they can get out of him. This maybe useful in hitting a certain damage threshold for Gold Medal runs, optimizing damage for epic loot, or hitting damage caps on organized monsters. Players with high attack will have more use for him than players with low attack.

The downside of Caine is that his damage bonus is weak in relation for his "asking" price. Although it is tied to a player's damage output, all non-stamina-based monsters except Cronus have high diminishing returns in damage at high attack scores. This lowers Caine's value compared to other damage boosting generals like Dolomar (crits) and Evalice (defense->attack transfer). Add to that the land caps and high gold requirements (for equipment) at the later quest areas, Caine is an unattractive choice to lead the monster attack of non-high level players.

Minimum level required to buy: 310

Sanna
Stats: 20/21 Ability: Heal +4 additional health when you win as a Cleric in Guild Battles Analysis: Sanna's ability is to increase the amount of health to everyone in your gate by 14 instead of 10. She is useful when you are in a gate with several clerics and it is a close fight to not get stunned. Every bit of health matters to every member, and clerics are especially invaluable in those situations. Also, she is one of the few generals whose effect can be noticed in the entire battle gate. If 5 active clerics in the same gate all fought/won with Sanna, that's +20 health to everyone in the gate just from the bonus.

The downside is that she is only useful if you are fighting a close battle against a tough/active opponent. If the battle has already been decided (you have no chance to win or the enemy has no chance to win), use Deianira for more damage to speed things up or use Tyxeros if you're trying to farm. If you are healing other members with the Heal ability, Sanna does not help.

Minimum level required to buy: 170

Oberon
Stats: 18/22 Ability: Increase Max Health by 25 as a Warrior Analysis: Health is very important in Guild Battles. Being a Warrior class exclusive, he is a step in the right direction in making the most underplayed class competitive in Guild Battles by being the best Health increaser general. If you have the tools to set up a great Warrior (have Whirlwind, Shout/Leadership, Confidence) and are a serious Guild Battle player, Oberon is a good choice to "complete" your set-up. His ability is only used at the beginning of battle, then switching to another general like Deianira. His bonus will provide you with +250 health. This can take 1(Rogue or a Full-Deck Warrior) to 3(Cleric or Mage) hits to take off.

Remember that the health bonus is only counted before the battle starts. If you're playing as a warrior and you want his health boost, you have to have him equipped before the battle. Once the battle starts, your boosted health is applied in the battle and you therefore don't need to use him for the duration of the battle. Switch to Ameron/Deianira or Meekah for your offense. Or even Tyrant/Joan if you are going about using Sentinel/Guardian.

Minimum level required to buy: 210

Daphne
Stats: 17/23 Ability: While defending in guild battles, deflect 20 damage back to the attacker Analysis: As noted in 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. If you have resistance IV, she is even more valuable. It is possible to take less than 30 damage when attacked (if you win) and winning or losing saves you 200 health if someone uses 10 tokens on you, and it is 200 damage to the opponent. In essence, having her equipped, adds health to your character and damages the attacker by 20 (same amount as Deianira's damage bonus) which makes her the best defending general.

She is only useful for defending, and you may wish to use other generals instead. Use Deshara as a rogue to increase the damage done to the attacker by 40, Sanna as a cleric to heal an extra +4 health, Zurran/Alexandria for mage burn, Raziel for extra rogue evade or Meekah for keeping a warrior Confidence boost. Keep in mind that they are only better if you win (except for Raziel). Do remember that mages have Polymorph and Confuse to really give them a great boost in trying to beat your defense. You may go with the strongest defensive general you have, as if you win the attack, you could lose less than 30 hp with Daphne, but a stronger defensive general could turn a loss defensive battle to a win, and would save far more than 20 hp.

Minimum level required to buy: 220

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. 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, Alexandria, Deianira, Sanna) but stunned players may want to give Tyxeros a spin. Being 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, they 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.

Minimum level required to buy: 240

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 it 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. Also keep in mind that the enemy can dispel the poison, making your token use less effective to downright wasting it if the full rounds didn't go off.

Minimum level required to buy: 250

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 260

Meekah
Stats: 22/21 Ability: Increase Confidence Damage by +40 Analysis: Meekah + Confidence is the final combo in completing the Warrior Class' climb to be a competitive force in guild battles. Together, the warrior bonus damage goes up to +90 maximum. Combined with other skills like Shout/Leadership/Whirlwind, they can potentially out damage rogues in guild battles. Meekah and Confidence comes with a condition though, and that is the player must keep winning to keep these bonuses up. Any loss will bring the bonus down by 1 notch (10 damage), any direct Heal/Cleanse/Dispel from an ally will do the same. To set up the +90, warriors must spend 9 tokens just to be able to reach it (more if they forgot to equip Meekah timely). It's no easy feat and is certainly quite tough to maintain in limited Festival Battles. It is still worth it though as the bonus stays even when stunned. The other 3 classes' abilities are useless when stunned. Warrior? They just lose Whirlwind, they still pack a punch even when they are dead. Don't underestimate warriors now, if you see the Bonus Damage and Confidence icons, scout the keep and look for Meekah. If that person is active, get rid of him/her immediately.

As with guild generals, Meekah is limited to guild battles. He/she is useful in guild monsters if more punch is needed though rogues are still better in this area.

Minimum level required to buy: 280

Anya
Stats: 21/22 Ability: Increase Polymorph Chance by +10% Analysis: Polymorph is a powerful skill. It stalls your opponents by blocking their actions for one attack or more if they see the poly and wait for an attack or dispel/cleanse to get rid of it. It also allows your allies to get an auto-win against the inflicted enemy regardless of stat difference. Polymorph boosts the attack power of the caster by 25% and compares if to the target's defense power. If the 125% attack beats the 100% defense, poly is inflicted. If not, poly is resisted. Anya seems to boost this effect to 135%, further increasing the success rate of polymorph.

Like Syren, Anya's weakness is that Polymorph itself is already a powerful ability. Her 10% boost theoretically can increase the number of people that one can polymorph. But because the calculation is invisible and unknown to many players, her having a significant effect or not is hard to tell. [With the change to +25% boost to attack power, Anya's +10% boost is more effective now].

Minimum level required to buy: 290

Alexandria
Stats: 21/23 Ability: Increase Damage of Mage Passive Ability by +4 Special Effect: Increases Zurran's Mage Passive Ability by +2 Analysis: Alexandria is the mage version of Sanna. Deals 14 damage to the enemy gate at level 4 and is weaker in comparison to Zurran, who does 18 damage. But as her lore text says, she holds a secret that Zurran (owners) would find attractive. Those who have the epic Annihilator Chest mage general will have benefits in purchasing Alexandria even though her ability is the weaker counterpart of him. This is because Alexandria is considered as an item bonus and boosts Zurran's gate damage ability by +2. This gives Zurran a formidable 20 gate damage, granting mages an edge over clerics in guild battles in terms of gate effect comparison. Even without Zurran, Alexandria can counter Sanna in terms of numbers damage/heal. With so many potent weapons in their arsenal, mage players only issue right now is deciding what ability to use against the opposition: Confuse? Poly? Splash?

As with guild generals, Alexandria's main weakness is that she is limited in guild battles. She is good for guild monsters if a guild is lacking fighters and plays mages instead of rogues.

Minimum level required to buy: 300

Joan
Stats: 20/25 Ability: Sentinel/Guardian protects 50 more health and resists 5 more damage Analysis: Sentinel/Guardian is a good skill that protects an ally from taking damage by letting a protecting warrior take the hit in their place. This is a good skill for HP tanks and Joan increases the value of the skill further by allowing the effect to take 1 or 2 more hits before it dissipates.

The downside of this skill is that it is very selective and very expensive. Sentinel/Guardian is useful but only for players with high max health, around 6000+. If they have virtually nothing in attack/defense stats, they ought to play cleric and cast support spells like Heal, Cleanse and Revive. If they have decent PvP stats, Warriors also have much more useful skills in Confidence and Whirlwind for offense. It also costs 7500 guild coins or at least 30 FP to roll and even more (at least 480 FP) to upgrade.

Minimum level required to buy: 340

Tefaera
Stats: 21/26 Ability: Revive/Resurrect restores 25 more health when triggered Analysis: Revive/Resurrect is an excellent skill in guild battles. It is very useful in that any guild whose members have them will always use them in guild battles. Tefaera improves the skill by restoring more health when it activates. It could be useful in making the opposition waste extra tokens to bring the revived ally's health back down below 200 especially if they have decent builds and/or are protected by Sentinel/Guardian. The skill is also very expensive but given its usefulness it's worth the coinage and/or FP (assuming you don't waste too much on failed rolls).

However, Tefaera is a victim of her own use. Revive/Resurrect is an already powerful skill and it's true use is keeping allies unstunned regardless of their health count. As long as they are unstunned, they can maximize their token use and could still be nursed with Heal (given enough splash heal maneuvering in the case in FGBs). Extra health restored is useful but not really necessary. As a guild general, Tefaera's only other use is in War as she has excellent stats at this time.

Minimum level required to buy: 350

Outdated
These generals have useful abilities but are rendered obsolete with the release of some generals in the top prospects batch who do offer more. However, for lower level players some of them can potentially make for good "in the meantime" generals.

Kataan
Stats: 22/22 Ability: Kataan gains +2 to Attack and Defense when he levels up Analysis:The recent slew of new monthlies have pushed Kataan to the outdated list. His 22/22 is no longer council worthy and his 24/24 with item bonuses is an expensive deal considering that some generals are equal or better than that even without items bonuses.

Minimum level required to buy: 90

Elora
Stats: 21/20 Ability: Increase Player Attack by 15 and Decrease Max Energy by 15 Analysis: With the release of Aesir, Elora's weak +15 bonus is no longer attractive.

Minimum level required to buy: 130

Ephraline
Stats: 23/21 Ability: Increase Confuse Effect by 5% and Mage Splash damage by +2. Analysis: Although released after both Syren and Alexandria, Ephraline is considered outdated due to her abilities being inferior to both. Ephraline's appeal is for the lazy clicker, those who don't want to swap generals when they want to boost the use of different skills. Ephraline can handle two skills but overall, players would be better off swapping Syren to Alexandria/Zurran and vice versa to get maximum benefit. With mages popular in the Arena, players should be wise with their FP and not get caught with the flow and buy Ephraline without analyzing her benefits.

Minimum level required to buy: 320

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 (besides the Orc King) against 2-bar monsters. With the release of Maalvus, he's relegated to the bench.

Minimum level required to buy: 80

Aria
Stats: 16/19 Ability: Increase Max Energy by 10 Analysis: Aria was a queen of leveling before Godric came out.

Minimum level required to buy: 1

Minerva
Stats: 20/18 Ability: Increase Max Stamina by 6 Analysis: Another former queen of leveling. Though not as outdated as Aria, she 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. Also out done by the free (for some) general Kilgore.

Minimum level required to buy: 100?

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 warrants a purchase now.

Minimum level required to buy: 110?

Slayer
Stats: 19/18 Ability: Increase critical hit rate by 3% Analysis: Equivalent to Kaiser in terms of ability. But inferior everywhere else.

Minimum level required to buy: 40

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.

Xelia
Stats: 25/21 Ability: +10% less likely for Illusion/Mirror Image to be dispelled when attacked. Analysis: Illusion/Mirror Image is a gimmick ability. It's there for fun more than a tactical tool. Once the enemy detects and sees through an illusion use, further use would be a waste of tokens. If they can't beat you, you'll be ignored anyway. If they can, they'll pound on you because you are active. Hence, generals boosting the dispel resist are mostly useless. Not to mention the skill can be very expensive to obtain.

Minimum level required to buy: 360

Rafaria
Stats: 24/20 Ability: Wound/Lacerate decreases max health by -25 health more Analysis: Wound/Lacerate is a terrible ability. It decreases the max health of an opponent in a guild battle once and it cannot be stacked. The only reasons one would decrease the max health of an opponent is: (1) for fun and (2) if they can't stop the enemy from healing themselves to full. If the latter is the problem, players should use the token for Poison or directly attacking instead of using Wound/Lacerate.

The skill is also very expensive for its use. You may want to buy Rafaria for collection purposes but DO NOT BUY Lacerate or do extra chest rolls for Wound.

Minimum level required to buy: 330

Shivak
Stats: 19/23 Ability: Boost Fortitude health increase by +60% Analysis: Same as Rafaria above. Fortitude is a "one-time Heal" that also extends the max health of the target. It's nothing special and you could use Heal and ignore Fort. The advantage of the latter is hardly noticeable anyway. Also saves time switching powers if you own either Cleanse/Dispel or Resurrect/Revive.

Minimum level required to buy: 270

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 can make a difference. Even then Adriana should be enough to red-cross the rebel.

Minimum level required to buy: 130

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 190

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 Aesir, Frost and Elora (who are also monthly generals) who give better attack bonuses and have no cooldown, Gawain is a joke.

Minimum level required to buy: 150

Azul
Stats: 20/20 Ability: Increase Player Attack and Player Defense by 5 Analysis: A general boosting 2 stats is not good since the stat additions are split which 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.

Minimum level required to buy: 140

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 ideal for fortification as she boosts Defense and Energy. However, the additions are weak that she won't take Dante's spot (if you have no better ones) as your repairman/healer.

Minimum level required to buy: 50

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 60?

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 160

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 60

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.

Minimum level required to buy: 20

Dexter
Stats: 16/22 Ability: Increase Player Defense by 6; Dexter gains +2 defense when he levels up Analysis: Defense version of Lyra.

Minimum level required to buy: 30

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