Strategy Guides/Tips on Building Divine Power

Divine Power is the latest trend on monsters in Castle Age. Some of them have Divine Armors that prevent a certain percentage of damage done to them. This makes the recent monsters more difficult to take down with no need to modify their total health or time limit.

Unlike previous monsters with shields like Ragnarok and Skaar, these things cannot be depleted by using energy (as it has no status bar). The only way to counter them is by having Divine Items in your inventory.

There is a catch however as the most potent divine items can only be obtained beating monsters with divine armor and obtain their epic loot necessary to alchemize divine items. Sounds ridiculous, and it is. Still, this guide will aim to help you build your divine power in such a way that the monsters' divine armor effects are minimized thus saving stamina (and probably FP as well) by not putting them on monsters that block a lot of damage prematurely.

Reference
This guide will use the Divine Items article as a reference to the divine items and monsters with divine armor that will be mentioned. It is recommended to read the article first to understand how divine power works.

Demi Items: 6500 pointers
There are free, but relatively weak, divine items offered in the game. They are awarded by the 5 demi gods for 6500 demi points on their alignment. These demi divine items are worth 10 divine power, weak overall but every little bit helps especially if you are just starting.

The 5 demi gods' items belong in only 2 categories however: armor and amulet. Due to the non-stack rule of divine items, only 2 of 5 will be useful. If you already have Ambrosia's armor, there won't be any benefit for going out of your way to get Aurora's and/or Azeron's since their items share the same slot. Same goes for Malekus' and Corvintheus' items. If anything, try to get the armors as the amulets will be replaced almost immediately. More on this later.

Since the guide has no control on your prayer choices, pvp and/or monster hunting habits, getting these items is not really required. It helps to have them though.

Ascension and Wrath Epics


Treasure Chest Ascension's and Wrath's epic generals are also considered as divine items as they have divine power. The Ascension ones have 20 Divine Power except for Alyzia who has only 5. The Wrath ones have 30 Divine Power except for Jaelle who only has 20. As with the Demi Items, having them helps but not required. They are not recommended either as it costs quite a bit of FP just to buy a chance to get them. The chest itself, despite the attractiveness of the generals in more ways than one, has the highest risk of getting useless prizes per roll.

Even though they are generals, they don't need to be equipped for their divine power to work as with other divine items.

Pre-Warning
The following entries involve the monsters that hold the ingredients to unlock the powerful divine items. Most of them are next generation alpha monsters who have 640M health total and requires at least 8-10 million activity done just to score 1 epic drop. If you cannot get to that amount of damage within the time limit given your stats, it is advised that you build up your character first before tackling these things. If other hitters are the problem (i.e too much tagging that the monster fails or slayers killing it quickly before you reach the epic point) then it is advised to look for a group that do organized kills so that you don't need to deal with these trouble.

= First Hit =

Jahanna and Force of Nature


Among all monster divine armors, Jahanna's is the weakest. Her divine armor only blocks 10% of your damage and deteriorates by 0.125% per 1 divine power. 80 divine power is needed to cancel it. Even without any divine items, that amount of damage prevention is hardly a problem. Because of this, we start with her. The divine item she offers is Force of Nature, a 35/50 amulet with 80 divine power and best in slot for defense item. Since it is an amulet, it will replace Juggernaut Medallion or Lionheart Seal demi items. It is worth it though as that 80 divine power will be the key in lowering the effects of tougher divine armors.

= Second Hits =

Agamemnon and Aegis of Kings
After Jahanna, Agamemnon is one of the candidates to fight next. He has a lot of pros going for him: Shorter summon cooldown, 192 hours time limit, divine armor of 30% block with 0.25% deterioration rate. 120 divine power is needed to cancel it. With Force of Nature in your possession, his divine armor effect will be Jahanna-like, only blocks less than 10% (actual value depending on the demi items/chest epics that you own). However, he has two HUGE flaws: his divine item, Aegis of Kings requires a summoner drop and it's been "replaced" (as the best) by Warrior Unbound. Aegis of Kings (50 / 40) is a great shield, the second best in the game with a very strong 120 divine power. However to be eligible to summon Agamemnon, you have to reach Boss Rank in the Tower of Transcendence. The Vanguard rank is particularly painful. Consider the stamina, time and favor point investment you have to make to be eligible to summon him. If you are not in a great position in the tower and are not willing to start the process of climbing, you can look for other candidates below. If you are planning to climb Tower II soon, consider abandoning this tower and head straight for Aurora or giants while making your way to the second tower.

Aurora and Heart of the Woods


Consider Aurora as an alternative if you cannot take on the tower challenge. Aurora has a tougher divine armor compared to Agamemnon at 40% block and 0.25% deterioration rate. 160 divine power is needed to cancel it. She, however, has the help of the Dark Rage system. Dark Rage when active gives a boost of 40 divine power, which is enough to bring her divine armor down to Agamemnon's level for 60 mins. Dark Rage also increases damage done by 20 % so it's very helpful bonus. Heart of the Woods (30 / 44) has the same 120 divine power as Aegis of Kings. However, unlike Agamemnon's shield, it does not require a summoner drop making it a suitable alternative for those who do not want to take the tower challenge.

Giants


The giants are the third candidate for the next hit. There are 4 of them: Kromash, Shardros, Glacius and Magmos. However, the latter two are the only ones with divine armors. Glacius' has a divine armor rating identical to Agamemnon: 30% block with 0.25% deterioration rate, but has less health. 120 divine power is needed to cancel it. Magmos has a stronger divine armor rating of 40% block and 0.2225% deterioration rate. 180 divine power is needed to cancel it. He is tougher than Aurora. With only Force of Nature (and maybe the demi items/ascension epics) in your possession, fighting him will be costly as you will be dealing with a 15.575% - 22.25% damage reduction. All four of their divine item alchemies offer only 40 divine power compared to the previous two. So why are they candidates for the next hit? Because of their availability. Their summon items can be obtained from gifts, meaning a lot more people will be able to summon them. Even with the difficulty of Magmos, there are two divine item alchemies that will require fighting him less.

Hammer of Storms
Hammer of Storms (36 / 32) is a divine weapon. It is in conflict with Aurora's Heart of the Woods. If you have Heart of the Woods, Hammer of Storms' divine power will no longer be used. This is a short term goal weapon divine item if you decide to skip over Aurora. It requires five epic drops from Magmos. You have to do around 12 million activity to get at least one epic drop or 33 million for almost guarenteed three epics. If you have Heart of the Woods or planning to get it soon, you may opt to combine the other giant alchemies below.

Aegis of Stone


Aegis of Stone (30 / 40) is a shield divine item. It is in conflict with Agamemnon's Aegis of Kings and Alexandra's Warrior Unbound. If you have Aegis of Kings and/or Warrior Unbound, Aegis of Stone's divine power will no longer be used. This is a short term goal shield divine item if you decide to skip over Agamemnon. The shield requires 6 Lava flasks, much less than Agamemnon's 15 runes to obtain his divine item. Due to the tower challenge requirement however, this makes a more appealing choice to many compared to Hammer of Storms. Anyway, if you have Aegis of Kings and/or Warrior Unbound or planning to get them soon, you may opt to combine the other giant alchemies.

Glacial Plate


Glacial Plate (33 / 33) is an armor divine item. It is in conflict with the Trisoul Plate and the demi items Tempest Plate and Moonfall Battlegear. It is a good upgrade for the armor slot from the demi items though not so much. Stat-wise, it's not too far behind the BIS Trisoul Plate though it only has 1/4 of it's divine power. Glacial Plate involves fighting Magmos 4-5 times on average (8 Lava flasks needed for the Plate). This of course depends on your playing and FP spending habits. If you are going for the Trisoul Plate any time soon, you may want to save the Flasks and Ices for the last giant alchemy below.

Lava Inferno
Lava Inferno (35 / 19) is a magic or spell divine item. It is in conflict with the more potent Molten Core. It is no issue though as obtaining the stronger magic requires Lava Inferno as an ingredient. It involves fighting Magmos 6-8 times on average (11 lava flasks). This of course depends on your playing and FP spending habits. It is recommended to leave this until you have accumulated enough divine power to bring down Magmos' divine armor to at least less than 10% block (more than 135 divine power).

= Third Hit =

Ambrosia and Helm of Arcane Energies


Ambrosia is the 5th toughest monster with divine armor. Her divine armor blocks 45% of damage and deteriorates at a rate of 0.2045% per 1 divine power. 220 divine power is needed to cancel it. It is recommended to have a divine power of 200 before facing her. A combination of Force of Nature + Aegis of Kings or Force of Nature + Heart of the Woods or Force of Nature + 3 Giant Alchemies will do this. Ambrosia also has Dark Rage support to help out but without +20% extra damage which was the case in Aurora. With it, 180 is actually the bare minimum. You can go lower but for the purposes of this guide, it is advised to face her with a stack of divine items to minimize or fully eliminate the block. Her divine item is the second best equipment with 48/53 stats and 120 divine power. Getting that powerful equipment comes at a price and Ambrosia's divine armor is proof of that.

Typhonus and Trisoul Plate
Typhonus is currently the 4rd toughest monster with divine armor. His divine armor blocks 45% of damage and deteriorates at a rate of 0.18% per 1 divine power. 250 divine power is needed to cancel it. Same recommendation as Ambrosia above before fighting this beast. As a third hit, you have to decide between this guy and Ambrosia. His upside is that he is very easy to find as the summon ingredients are easily gifted. The downside is the divine item recipe itself. Trisoul Plate offers a high divine power rating of 160, second best among all divine items. The cost of that is a recipe with 4 different ingredients and requires a total of 22 pieces to create, more than the "usual" ingredient count of 18 (about 2 more battles in comparison on average). Trisoul Plate is a BIS overall armor but only has 40/35 stats. Not very impressive for something that requires a lot on a tough divine monster. The flashy 40 additional divine power (over Ambrosia's HoAE) hardly makes it attractive.

= Fourth Hit =

Malekus and Keeper of Chaos


Malekus is currently sharing the title of second toughest monster with divine armor along with Alpha Kraken. His divine armor blocks 45% of damage and deteriorates at a rate of 0.1636% per 1 divine power. 275 divine power is needed to cancel it. It is recommended to have a divine power of at least 200, probably more close to 250, before fighting him. Force of Nature (80 DP) along with Aurora's Staff or Agamemnon's Shield (both with 120 DP) and one Giant's alchemy (40 DP) brings you to 240. Malekus divine item recipe requires 22 pieces of ingredients including 2 pieces each of 3 powerful equipment that can make most people's War Council gear. Keeper of Chaos is a BIS attack amulet and has 50/35 stats, the reverse of Jahanna's Force of Nature. FoN is not rendered completely obsolete because of the stats (still BIS defensive) but it will be replaced divine power-wise. It's an upgrade of 100 divine power on your amulet slot. Keep this in mind if you are choosing between the third hits: Ambrosia (120 to helmet, BIS, 101 total stats), Typhonus (120 or 150 to armor, BIS, 75 total stats) and Malekus (100 to amulet, BIS attack, 85 total stats).

= Fifth Hit =

Alexandra and Warrior Unbound
Alexandra is currently the toughest monster with divine armor. Her divine armor blocks 45% of damage and deteriorates at a rate of 0.1551% per 1 divine power. 290 divine power is needed to cancel it. She is a tower boss like Agamemnon although the way towards summoning her isn't so much of a pain compared to the Overseer. Tower of Transcendence II's vanguards are the 4 demi-gods. If you haven't built Ambrosia's, Aurora's and/or Malekus' divine items, fighting their tower vanguard versions should be a good opportunity to collect ingredients. Not only do you have extra time to kill them, you'll also collect vanguard points towards unlocking the boss floor. It's not so bad although you will need to fight these demi brutes about 35-40 times to get 20k points. Switch to Corvintheus if you are getting tired, at least he has no divine armor that could potentially hold back your fellow attackers. Anyway, the main difficulty about her is her divine item recipe. Warrior Unbound is the new best shield with impressive 52/48 stats and 180 divine power. But the price of that is 3, yes three summoner drops. So you will have to summon her at least three times to cross out the Soul of the Warrior ingredient. Don't forget to check your tower battles every 24-hours so as to not potentially miss your loot collection time.

Kraken/Alpha Kraken, Atlantis II and Helm of the Deep


Alpha Kraken is the newest monster with divine armor. It has a divine armor which blocks 45% of damage per attack. It deteriorates at a rate of 0.1636% per 1 divine power and will take 275 divine power to nullify it completely, similar to Malekus. Kraken differs from other divine monster that Helm of the Deep (55/60 stats with 180 divine power, BIS for both attack and defense) it's not created by loot drops from monster. Instead you need Relics of the Kraken to finish two last quests in Atlantis II. It is possible to skip Alpha Kraken and only fight regular Kraken (no divine armor) but in order to get one Relic, you must be the summoner of the regular Kraken. And while Alpha Kraken can give possible of three Relics per kill, normal Kraken gives maximum of one. Thus Alpha Kraken is a lot better choise for your stamina in order to get the best helm in the game (if you have enough divine power to do decent damage against Alpha Kraken). Not to mention that to summon a Kraken, you will need to invest a lot of energy in obtaining the necessary summoning ingredients. You will need at least 9 relics to obtain the horns which are necessary for the last quest.

Once you have obtained 5 Horns of the Sea, you can now quest in the Underwater section of Atlantis II. This quest gives the ingredients needed to create the divine item. However, this is a huge energy sink that unless you have tremendous amounts of energy (or are willing to use favor point refills), it will take a very long time for you to complete your quota. If you are planning to skip Ambrosia's helm, Helm of the Deep maybe worth the time and resources spent on it. However, if you already have Helm of Arcane Energies or are soon getting one, Malekus or Alexandra would probably be better choise loot-wise.

Krakenhide Armor
2 Krakenhide Armors are required to complete Helm of the Deep. It is a decent divine item with 30/35 stats and 40 divine power. However, there is a more potent armor divine item in Typhonus' Trisoul Plate (40/35, 160 divine power). There is also a relatively less intensive alternative in the giants' Glacial Plate (33/33, 40 divine power). Recommended to only pursue for the purposes of creating the best equipment in the game, Helm of the Deep. If you are looking to replace your armor demi divine items, look for Typhonus or the giants.

= Excavation Quest =

Demon Realm's Cave of Wonder and Molten Core
Molten Core can be pursued simultaneously while hunting the divine monsters. Boasting 38/25 stats and 70 divine power, it is the best magic in the game, stat-wise and divine power-wise. It has one HUGE fatal flaw though, more fatal than Agamemnon's Aegis of Kings. Not only does it require Lava Inferno in it's recipe, the other ingredients can only be obtained from the energy vacuum Cave of Wonder quest in the Demon Realm. It needs 6 Temporal Rune of Embers: 3 for it's recipe and 3 for Meteor Storm which is another ingredient for it's recipe. The ember runes are very rare and would require high level excavation for a chance drop (highest level is 8). FP is mandatory to get to that level. It can be obtained slowly by combining lower level Temporal Rune of Mists and Leaves but the time investment will be a long one. Not to mention that the quest does not offer skill points so think twice about your situation in the game whether to pursue this or not.

= Final Words = Currently, the highest divine power needed to cancel a monster's divine armor is 290. 200 divine power is already acceptable as it is enough to bring down the damage reduction to below 10% on everyone else except Malekus, Alpha Kraken and Alexandra. So we only need to fight Jahanna and then Aurora or Agamemnon before being "free" of the trouble of huge damage blocks. Although supposedly a third hit, the giants are included as an alternative to the second hit list due to possible availability and monotomy issues that may arise. Be warned though that their divine items have weaker divine power compared to the other non-monster drop ones. They are crutch or temporary items, stepping stones so you will have less trouble hitting epic thresholds on your quest to obtaining the more potent divine items.

I hope this guide has been helpful to you and may you rid of your divine armor troubles in your monster fights.