Gem Review (RC)

(This guide is brought to you by RC)
The classic hero Gem from original PC game "Heroes 3 of Might and Magic – Shadow of Death" finally got released in August patch. With this, the last Heroes original faction - Rampart - received its own faction leader. Let’s take a deep look at this hero together!
=Hero Specialty=
* 1-Star specialty basically allows Gem to have enough mana. In most PvP scenarios, Gem's formation will contain 6 rampart units. This gives 42 initial mana, and a very healthy 4.2 mana regeneration bonus. Gem is overall a hero facing less mana issue.
* 2-Stars specialty is the core for Gem, the stacks surely help. Once Gem survived early attacks, her army will become very sustainable. What's more important, two spells will actually remove all debuffs. Note that stun is also considered a debuff.
* 3-Stars specialty is the standard global buff, so it’s also good for PvE.
* 4-Stars specialty supports Gem in longer fights. After everything gets stacked up, Gem will have enough attacking power to close the fight, instead of ending it in a boring tie.
Overall, we can see Gem is a hero built around the concept of shields, which is perfectly in sync with most Rampart units and their associated Awakening skills. The shields and Druid provides great survival ability against the best nukers in game, and once the shields start to stack up, Rampart units become really powerful in terms of both survival and offense. 
Compared to the CN version at about the same moment in time, we can tell there are significant changes.
* the 3-stars and 4-stars abilities' stack up limit got nerfed compared to CN version
* the shield value got buffed up to 10x. 
In my opinion, this is a proper adjustment, Gem is showing very good results in world server, but she doesn’t create an invincible Dendroid like the ToA boss in CN. The 'tenfold' shield is not a real buff based on real game tests, so I believe some adjustment in the shielding mechanic might be changed as well.
The stack limit nerf prevents Gem to be too OP in the late game. Personally I think the 4-stars stack limit should be somewhere around 12 stacks over 10 stacks, but it's surely acceptable.
=Masteries=
Gem's masteries are pretty straightforward. Let's start with the must-haves. You pretty much always need these.
This leaves a flexspot for the last mastery for which I would recommend one of the following:
Since world server buffed Green Dragon and made SSR more obtainable, you may want to consider Green Dragon as another core damage output. However, in my opinion, Wood Elf is still the core damage output in this team, Green Dragon is a semi DPS and half support. I am not certain if things would change if you have decent 6*/6* Gold Dragon, if so, you may want to try things differently with Sorcery. 
The beauty of Gem is this team doesn't rely on heavily developed SSRs. A solid Green/Gold Dragon is enough, it’s a VERY cheap team to build.
=Spells=
Spell	School	Type	ManaCD	Description
Nothing special. For Spell Mark, you may want to consider Frost Ring. It will combo with Frozen Arrow for an additional 5 seconds AoE stun. It’s very helpful fighting with some factions.
There are other spells you may want to consider like Mirth, Slayer and Bloodlust. These options will buff your damage on Wood Elf, your core DPS.
I would avoid Fast Attack and Rush Tactic. Both of them sounds really nice, but your AI will cast them on the front row units, so it won’t buff your Wood Elf. Sadly these makes them inappropriate for auto combat. 
If you want to consider some ultimate spells in mark slot, make sure it won’t take priority over Tranquil Rain. Some spells that may take priority over Gem's ultimate are Prayer and Mystic Domain (may still be okay in niche situations)
=Recommended Formation=
This example formation is a two-line formation placed in the top 2 rows (with Pegasus and Green Dragon on the outside). It is a good option for most scenarios, but you need to adjust accordingly based on your opponents. Overall, at similar power level, Gem is not too afraid of Charge units. Leaving lanes open is not a huge concern.
==Units==
Role 	Unit	Description 	EmblemOptions
Core 	 	Dendroid becomes exceptionally good with Gem. 	
Core 	 	Core unit, take the spell damage, core DPS, same as Homm3 game. 	
Core 	 	Unit to create shield, support, debuff and damage. 	
Core 	 	No need to explain. 	
Advanced 	 	Support, buff, shield creator 	
Advanced 	 	Damage, support, shield creator 	
Nice to Have	 	It’s a solid tank, easy to get to 6*/6*, easy to have full potentials. He is very cheap to build and works out perfectly as a main tank. 5 stars awakening skill coordinates with Gem’s shield very well, it provides additional mana to Gem, provides slow for synergy with Wood Elf. It should be a solid option in 90% of your fights.	
Flexspot 	 	You may want to consider Paladin when you are worried about Devil or Charge units because he provides the whole team with damage reduction. 	
Flexspot 	 	You may want to consider Dwarf when you have tank survival issue, it’s also a cheaper solution than Paladin. 	
Flexspot 	 	You may want to consider Bone Dragon vs. opponents you would normally timeout against. 	
=Artifacts=
Sword of Frost and Angelic Alliance
=Current Meta=
All below tests were completed based on same/similar power level. 
Hero	Outcome
 	Gem wins easily. Almost 100%-win when Charge units are blocked. Gem is closing Sandro meta.
 	Gem takes good amount of advantage because of Cure and stun removal. Gem seems to be the only possible solution for a heavily built Dragon Mutare at the moment.
 	Close, lots of times result is determined by formation, battle may end up with timeout. Without proper handling of his Naga and Mage, you may lose your tank and therefore lose the whole battle. Overall, Astral is at a small advantage.
 	Depends on the outcome of Pegasus vs. Devil. If your Pegasus is not killed instantly, Gem wins. Otherwise, things may get worse for future version when new awakenings comes.
 	Easy win. Things may go down for future version when new units come.
 	Easy win. Spell damage is not an issue for Gem.
 	Does Roland even exist? Please refund Roland.
 	There is not enough well-built Tazar due to release time, but Tazar seems to be taking a dominating advantage over Gem.
Overall, similar to Astral, Gem also has some weak spots, but I will leave this for the readers to find out at this moment.
=Conclusions=
Overall, Gem is a very solid investment option for all players, I would highly recommend you to take Gem. She is very competitive in PvP/PvE, both in early levels and late levels. At the same time, Gem’s team requires low/no $$ compared to any other faction leaders, core units are all easily farmable.
It’s one of the most wallet friendly competitor you can have in this game. If we need to put Gem in a tier list of PvP, below is what I will put her (based on Aug 20/2020)
Tier 0	(Full Build)
Tier 1	
Tier 2	(Dungeon Build)
Tier 3	
Tier 4	
Tier 5	
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