Arena

## What is the Arena?

Much like in any CCG/TCG game, the Arena is a place where the player has to battle other line-ups with cards drafted from a selected pool. In GoW, you will go to battle with your hero (and the weapon of your choice amongst those you already own), and three cards: a common, a rare and an ultra rare. You might play with cards you do not currently own (and are offered a choice to buy them with gems at the end if you’re so inclined).

## Where is it located?

To play the Arena, you need to get to Broken Spire.

Pay the fee – a 1000 gold – and prepare for the draft.

## How does it work?

The game will now propose you nine cards: 3 commons, 3 rares and 3 ultra rares. You will have to pick one of each in order to create your line-up.
I will advise you to pick according to colours, so that you cover all of them. For instance, if your first choice is green, the second could be purple and red, and the third could be blue and yellow. Then, you can choose a weapon for your hero that is brown, and you get the full spectrum without any overlap! Of course, you can’t always get a perfect rainbow, so choose wisely.
Note that you don’t have to play the arena in one sitting, you can close the arena and come back to it later.
The point is to get as far as possible in the arena, up to 8 wins. You can lose one battle and still carry on. Which means you can get to 8 wins, even if you have one loss. However, the second loss means that you are eliminated. It’s ok though, you can come back as many times as you want as long as you pay the entrance fee.

I should add a few points:
1. You can switch the places of your cards just like in classic invading mode.
2. You benefit from your masteries just like in any other battle, but not from your traits. All troops will be trait-less during battles.
3. You don't benefit from your kingdom bonuses while battling in the Arena.
4. You have the opportunity to earn random traitstones at the end of a battle just like in PvP mode.
5. If you close the arena before your first fight, and if you have changed your weapon, chances are you will have to change it again before your first fight. This known bug is not true for everyone, but better safe than sorry. Check your weapon!
6. You can change the difficulty setting at any point during the Arena, but know that the rewards will be matched to the lower difficulty used.

## Visual Examples

Ok, here is a breakdown of an arena.

This is my first choice, the common cards. I have to pick between the Goblin, the Ghoul and the Peasant.
I’m opting for the Goblin, since it’s one of the best common cards. I’ve been lucky! It also means I should avoid green troops for the next choices if I can, so that I don’t get mana overlap.

My second choice, the rare cards. I have to draft either the Dryad, the Acolyte or the Valkyrie. The good thing is, none of them uses green, so I can pick whichever I want without regret. But it’s a tough choice. The Dryad is really nice and feeds the Goblin, the Acolyte and the Valkyrie are both very good with brown and blue troops/weapons respectively. After some time, I settle for the Valkyrie: she’s a gem changer and not a gem creator, which means she’s “safer” to use. Also, if I don’t get any blue troop in the third slot, I can use an expensive blue weapon. Valkyrie it is!

The final choice, the ultra rare cards. The choice is between the Flame Cannon, the Ancient Horror and the Drake Rider. My choice will have to be amongst the two last ones, since I already have a yellow/red troop, but no brown or purple. I decide to pick the Drake Rider, a troop with decent stats that do a lot of damage and can feed the Valkyrie in the process.

Now, it’s time to pick a weapon! As you can see, the previous weapon I had was purple and red, but that does not work with my current line-up. I need some blue in my life! I settle for Winter’s Woe. I usually don’t pick it since it’s a bit expensive, but the Valkyrie will fill it up pretty fast. It does a nice amount of damage and entangle the enemy.

My line-up is ready. I decide not to switch my troops. The Drake Rider is more tanky than the Valkyrie, which means he can more easily soak up damage from satyrs, rock worms or anything else that deals damage to the last enemy.

First battle: I won! The line-up works amazingly well, with the Drake feeding the Valkyrie who in turn feeds the hero. It’s a neverending loop, and the Goblin is there to finish off the wounded.

Time to get some rewards now! This was a really fun team to play with.

## Arena Rewards

Here is the breakdown of all the bounties you can proudly bring home:

* 1 victory: 250 gold, 2 trophies and 50 souls
* 2 victories: 500 gold, 4 trophies, 1 glory key and 100 souls
* 3 victories: 1000 gold, 6 trophies, 1 glory key and 200 souls
* 4 victories: 1,500 gold, 10 trophies, 2 glory keys and 350 souls
* 5 victories: 2,000 gold, 15 trophies, 2 glory keys and 500 souls
* 6 victories: 2,500 gold, 20 trophies, 3 glory keys and 700 souls
* 7 victories: 3,000 gold, 25 trophies, 4 glory keys and 900 souls
* 8 victories: 4,000 gold, 30 trophies, 5 glory keys and 1,200 souls

Please note that the arena rewards will be adjusted according to your Armor, if you do have one, and the difficulty chosen as well.

{please add additional info about troop buying upon ending an arena run, as well as calculated Gems-to-Souls costs here.}