Crucible of Fire

The Crucible of Fire (CoF) is a daily event that is unlocked at level 30. There are 15 stages each day. The CoF is the largest source of gold in the game. It should be a top priority to complete the entire CoF each day.

After completing a stage you will receive a chest. Each chest contains a large amount of gold and an item. Every 3rd stage will be a purple chest. These chests are special in two ways. The first is that they contain dragon scales and the second is that they have a higher chance to drop good loot or hero cards. This could be any hero available in the diamond chest pulls and loot up to purple. This changes when the Realm of the Ancients is completed, orange loot then also has a chance to drop. These drop rates for high level loot and hero cards are very small.

At VIP level 10 a second run becomes available. This run can be swept. Dragon scales are only obtained from the first run, but gold and loot will still drop.

So in short you can get the following from CoF

* vast amounts of gold
* grey to orange items - orange after RotA has been completed on your server
* Hero unlocks, even those only available via diamond chests - though this is very, very rare

# General & Strategies

## Pause and Retreat

This is crucially important to success in the CoF. If a battle is not going well, you are able to pause, and retreat. This will allow you to try new heroes or time your skills differently.

## Energy & Health Carry Over

You will notice soon that the Energy and Health level of your heroes will carry over between fights. Health maybe an issue, but the fact that Energy carries over is good. That way you can enter the fight and immediate start with your ultimate skills. This renders heroes with strong AOE very useful to finish fights fast.

## Hiring

If you are lacking a very good hero, hire that one from your guild. You should do this early, so that this hero can build up his energy within the first easy stages. This becomes even more practical, as you need to become comfortable with that hero, as you do not own him, you do not know his mechanics that well.

## Matchmaking

You will face random defensive teams from both Arenas. These will be chosen related to the calculated team power of your top 5 heroes.

## Kamikaze

You could decide to weaken the enemy squad with a kamikaze squad, but this should be your last resort. To do so send in 5 heroes that are OK, but not viable for your core. Try to do as much damage as you can, take down at least 1-2 heroes and accept the fact that your whole squad dies. Those enemies will stay dead, even if you loose.

Downside of this is that the enemy team also keeps its' energy levels, same as you do. So when you know face the 3-4 remaining heroes, they might fire their ultimate skills right away.

# Gameplay

CoF can be divided into 3 parts: early, mid and late.

## Early

Early stages are 1-6. In these battles you will encounter enemies below your rating. These battles should be used to charge the skills of your heroes. You should charge your alternative team first, then on the second encounter charge your core team. That way you will have around of 10 charged heroes skills. This allows more flexibility for more difficult battles.

If you do not have 10 heroes that are worth using that is okay. Try and get as many ready as you can. Should you have more than 10, go and charge them while it is easy.

## Mid

Mid battles should be 7-12. These battles will be against teams of your rating. You should your core team all through this range, only making substitutions if you see a hero that counters one of your team or that you could defeat easier if you make a substitution.

It is important to keep all of your heroes alive though this phase and at good health. Should you see that you are going to win the fight, but one or more of your heroes is at a critical health level, restart the fight.

## Late

Late battles are 13-15. These battles will be against teams above your rating. You should make more substitutions in this part of the run to make use of counters and to avoid those. You should also be willing to let a key hero die you have a suitable replacement. If there is a particularly difficult battle and you cannot finish without losing a hero, that’s okay!