Need some strong builds for climbing the ladder? From Assassins to Mages, here are 19 Auto Chess Meta Builds to help you along the way.
Hey everyone, Oran again.
I’ve updated my builds again (and added quite a few new builds) and though I’d share them again. Original post here which gives positioning examples. I won’t go as in-depth this time as there are more builds and my last guide was probably too damn long.
1. 3 Mages
 The Source (2 Cost) |  Thunder Spirit (3 Cost) |  Tortola Elder (4 Cost) |  Shadow Devil (3 Cost) |  Pirate Captain (4 Cost) |  Werewolf (3 Cost) |  Stone Spirit (1 Cost) |
Team Builder: 3 Mages
Pros; Good burst and CC. Human silence can also shut down other mage/gods comps.
Cons: Struggles in long fights (Looking at you, Knights) and may not deal enough damage to burst the enemy if they have marines.
Add duplicate Thunder Spirits or Shadow Devils, or legendary units (Helicopter, God of Thunder, Blight Sorcerer, Dark Spirit, Tsunami pref.) Can also consider 4 elementals if against melee-heavy comps (Such as Assassins or Warriors). Razorclaw 3 is also a great addition to this team. Can swap Stone Spirit for any other Warrior if you’re sick of him throwing your enemies to safety (I usually try to put a Frantic Mask on him).
2. 6 Mages
 Ogre Mage (1 Cost) |  Shining Dragon (2 Cost) | The Source (2 Cost) |  Flaming Wizard (3 Cost) | Thunder Spirit (3 Cost) | Tortola Elder (4 Cost) | Pirate Captain (4 Cost) | Shadow Devil (3 Cost) |
Team Builder: 6 Mages
Pros: Insane burst, also has 4 humans built-in. Quite cheap to build as well as you don’t require 3* units or many expensive units.
Cons: If you get CC’d at all, your team is probably dead. If the enemy survives your unit burst, you’re probably dead. Also, may struggle without mana items.
If you hit God of Thunder or Blight Sorcerer, swap out Shining Dragon or Ogre (if 2*). Ogre 3* is a huge help because he’s super tanky and you don’t run many tanks in 6 mage. Options for lvl 9/10; Storm Shaman 2*, Dark Spirit, Helicopter, Tsunami Stalker, Razorclaw 3* or add 2 warriors (Usually Tusk + Werewolf). If you’re stuck with 1* Pirate, you can replace him for 2* Storm Shaman or another Thunder Spirit/Shadow Devil.
3. 6 Assassins
 Shining Assassin (4 Cost) |  Shadow Crawler (3 Cost) |  Lord of Sand (3 Cost) |  Abyssal Crawler (2 Cost) |  Phantom Queen (2 Cost) |  Water Spirit (2 Cost) |  Warpwood Sage (3 Cost) |  Razorclaw (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: 6 Assassins
Pros: Massive powerspike when you hit 6 assassins and they’re also quite good early game. Easy to get your frontline to 3*. Probably one of the best-scaling comps with items because you have so many potential carry units to 3*. Will usually kill some units each round even when losing so hp loss is mitigated.
Cons: If your assassins get stunned, they’re probably dead. Susceptible to Spirit stuns and may struggle with very tanky units (Knights, GoW3, Warriors). If you don’t get good dps items, you won’t scale very well. Also if you can’t find Razorclaw or Shining Assassin, you may struggle.
Stick at lvl 8 and roll for 3* assassins or lvl to 9 if you need to put marine passive in or another Shining 2*
4. Beast Warriors
 Tusk Champion (1 Cost) | Werewolf (3 Cost) | Pirate Captain (4 Cost) |  Abyssal Guard (2 Cost) |  Doom Arbiter (4 Cost) |  Berserker (4 Cost) |  Poisonous Worm (3 Cost) | Razorclaw (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Beast Warriors
Pros: Currently very strong due to warrior and beast buffs and is strong throughout the entire game. If you highroll this comp, you’ll kill everyone very, very quickly. Plenty of other warriors to play until you find the 4-costs. With mana items, your worm can be very difficult to deal with if the enemy isn’t assassins or mages.
Cons: Can be nuked by mages until you activate Marine bonus. You require a lot of 4-cost units for your optimal build and can get out-scaled easily if you don’t get them to 2*. Without mana items, your Siren and Worm won’t be anywhere near as effective. It’s also pretty contested as of writing this guide so finding your units may be a struggle.
I usually add Siren at lvl 9 for marine bonus and cc and a warlock at 10, preferably Dark Spirit.
5. Cave Mages
 Redaxe Chief (1 Cost) |  Skull Hunter (2 Cost) |  Storm Shaman (4 Cost) |  Swordman (2 Cost) | Tortola Elder (4 Cost) | The Source (2 Cost) | Thunder Spirit (3 Cost) | Shadow Devil (3 Cost) | Pirate Captain (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Cave Mages
Pros: Good damage and very tanky frontline. Good CC with Storm Shaman and Pirate. Swordsman can absolutely shred teams at 3*, especially with the recent buffs. Good against other mage comps due to having such a tanky Storm Shaman.
Cons: May struggle without 3* cave clan. Not as much damage as a normal mage comp and even less likely to beat knights. May also not have enough burst to deal with Assassins.
Stick at lvl 9 and roll for 3* Cave clan or lvl to 10 to put a legendary in (Helicopter/Tsunami/GoT/2*Blight pref or Dark Spirit if vs Knights).
6. Dragon Knights
 Argali Knight (3 Cost) |  Dragon Knight (4 Cost) |  Evil Knight (3 Cost) |  Hell Knight (2 Cost) |  Frost Knight (1 Cost) |  Lightblade Knight (2 Cost) | Shining Dragon (2 Cost) |  Venom (3 Cost) |  Soul Reaper (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Dragon Knights
Pros: Tanky, decent damage. Slightly weaker than they used to be but still perfectly playable. Probably the best counter to mage comps.
Cons: May struggle to deal with Beast Warrior summons unless you hit 3* Hell Knight and Lightblade Knight and also 2* Dragon Knight. Not great vs Feathered as this comp is very auto-attack reliant.
At lvl 10 you can put in any legendary, dark spirit is probably preferred, or another Dragon Knight 2. Can also run 2x DK2 at lvl 9 if you can’t get Soul Reaper 2* (or he’s just getting bursted by mages).
7. Feathered Assassins
Shadow Crawler (3 Cost) | Shining Assassin (4 Cost) |  Taboo Witcher (1 Cost) | Warpwood Sage (3 Cost) |  Wisper Seer (2 Cost) |  Wind Ranger (3 Cost) | Lord of Sand (3 Cost) | Razorclaw (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Feathered Assassins
Pros: One of the best comps to Open Fort or Lose Streak into due to how easy it is to 3* your druids. Also hits a big power spike at 6 feathered and is a fully functional comp at lvl 7. All of your units are surprisingly tanky against physical comps (Warriors, Knights, Assassins) due to the evasion which helps your assassins survive for longer. Shadowcrawler 3* can become a hyper carry with items. Easy beast buff with Lord of Sand and Razorclaw.
Cons: If you don’t hit Shining Assassin and Razorclaw, you’re probably gonna lose. Will most likely get destroyed by 6-hunters as long as they have any sort of front line.
Can add another Shining Assassin 2* at 9 OR a Storm shaman 2* vs Gods/Mage OR go to lvl 10 and add Siren + Tsunami vs mages.
8. Feathered Assassin Hunters
Warpwood Sage (3 Cost) | Wisper Seer (2 Cost) | Shadow Crawler (3 Cost) | Shining Assassin (4 Cost) | Wind Ranger (3 Cost) | Abyssal Crawler (2 Cost) |  Siren (4 Cost) |  Shining Archer (2 Cost) |
Team Builder: Feathered Assassin Hunters
Pros: A very powerful comp if you pull it off – Tanky vs physical and magical comps, good CC from siren, good sustained damage from hunters and good burst from assassins. All around a strong comp. Can also scale very well with items. Quite easy to 3* Shining Archer as she’s only a 2-cost. She also helps with your comeback (since I usually lose streak into feathered) due to her ability being stronger the bigger the rank difference is between you and your opponent.
Cons: This build is hard to pull off due to needing 3 different 4-costs (including razorclaw to make your druids) compared to normal feathered assassin or hunter builds. As always, Siren is usually too slow without mana items. You don’t have any choice in your assassins or hunters so finding them might be a pain. You may still also be destroyed by 6 hunters although your own Siren helps a lot.
Can replace Wisper Seer for 3* Taboo Witcher. Lvl 9/10 are flexible, I usually at Razorclaw 3 at 9 if i’ve been finding him and another beast or a legendary at 10.
9. Feathered Demons
Shadow Crawler (3 Cost) | Shining Assassin (4 Cost) | Taboo Witcher (1 Cost) | Warpwood Sage (3 Cost) | Wisper Seer (2 Cost) | Wind Ranger (3 Cost) |  Fallen Witcher (3 Cost) | Phantom Queen (2 Cost) |
Team Builder: Feathered Demons
Pros: 3* Fallen witcher can carry you as he deals very high sustained damage after he transforms. Also your demon buff can’t be negated so him and Queen always deal extra pure damage on autoattack whereas your opponents lose their demon buffs. And all he needs is 1 or 2 mana items and some tank items which leaves your damage items for Shadowcrawler. Has all the other pros of normal feathered/assassins. 2* Fallen witcher is also very strong early to mid game. Also does better vs Hunters as long as your Fallen Witcher doesn’t get focused. Phantom Queen is also easy to 3* as she’s only a 2-cost.
Cons: If you don’t hit 3* Fallen Witcher, he won’t be able to carry you late game. Also, if he doesn’t have mana items he kind of sucks. Also, if he gets mana drained or human silenced or stunned or doomed or spirit stunned or cc’d in any way, he won’t do much, so you need to constantly reposition in response to your opponents positioning. This comp has the same flaws as any feathered comp.
I usually only play this build if I get an early 2* Fallen Witcher (with mana items). Lvl 9/10 can be whatever you want – More demons / Razor + Unicorn / Marines / Legendaries / Warlocks etc.
10. Feathered Dragons
Warpwood Sage (3 Cost) | Wisper Seer (2 Cost) | Shining Assassin (4 Cost) | Shadow Crawler (3 Cost) | Taboo Witcher (1 Cost) | Shining Dragon (2 Cost) | Venom (3 Cost) | Dragon Knight (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Feathered Dragons
Pros: Same as feathered assassins with the addition of good sustained AoE damage from DK2. Also, Venom 2* and Shining Dragon 2* can really help your early-mid game as they do good magic damage.
Cons: Adds another 4-cost you need to find and he kind of sucks until 2*. Also forces you to use Shining Dragon over better Feathered units like Wind Ranger. Build can’t function until lvl 8 unlike normal feathered/assassins which is strong at lvl 7. Same flaws as normal feathered builds.
I usually only play this over normal feathered assassins if the game throws a DK2 at me. Can use Lightblade instead of Taboo Witcher however I prefer Witcher due to him countering demons and his mana drain. 9/10 are flexible, I usually add 3* Razorclaw or another Shining Assassin 2*/DK2* or marines or legendaries depending on what I’m against.
11. Feathered Hunters
Taboo Witcher (1 Cost) | Warpwood Sage (3 Cost) | Wisper Seer (2 Cost) | Wind Ranger (3 Cost) | Shining Assassin (4 Cost) | Siren (4 Cost) | Shining Archer (2 Cost) |
Team Builder: Feathered Hunters
Pros: Same as any feathered comp. Good sustained damage from your hunters and Siren provides great CC. Very easy to add Marine buff at 8. Great against other Feathered comps. Easy to 3* Shining Hunter
Cons: Same as any feathered comp. Less burst damage as you don’t have assassins. Your only target for Frantic Mask is Taboo Witcher unfortunately. Siren needs mana items as always. Requires 3 different 4-costs and Siren needs to be 2*.
Lvl 8 should be another marine, preferably tsunami although not usually possible. Lvl 9/10 are flexible, you can go 6 feathered, 6 hunters at 10 if you want but I usually just put in legendaries.
12. Glacier Knights
Evil Knight (3 Cost) | Hell Knight (2 Cost) | Frost Knight (1 Cost) | Lightblade Knight (2 Cost) | Berserker (4 Cost) |  Defector (1 Cost) |  Desperate Doctor (2 Cost) | Soul Reaper (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Glacier Knights
Pros: I prefer this to Dragon Knights as it has more damage and more CC at the expense of some tankiness. This comp has much better lategame potential than dragon knights IMO and can beat most comps if you hit your 3*’s. Now only requires lvl 8 which allows for more flexibility.
Cons: May struggle in the current meta, especially against Feathered comps as your entire team relies on autoattacks. Weaker against Mages than Dragon Knights. If you don’t hit your 3*s, your comp won’t scale well. Lightblade really needs items to hyper carry you.
Now that warlock buff is only 2 units, this build comes online at lvl 8. 3* priorities are Hell Knight, Lightblade Knight and Desperate Doctor. Frost Knight and Defector are also fine because they’re cheap. Options for 9/10 are Storm Shaman, legendaries (any work), 4 warlocks, 4 egersis, marines.
13. Glacier Warriors
Tusk Champion (1 Cost) | Werewolf (3 Cost) | Pirate Captain (4 Cost) | Abyssal Guard (2 Cost) | Doom Arbiter (4 Cost) | Berserker (4 Cost) | Defector (1 Cost) | Desperate Doctor (2 Cost) | Frost Knight (1 Cost) |
Team Builder: Glacier Warriors
Pros: Very tanky due to 6 warriors and also good damage. Allows Berserker to become the carry he was always meant to be. Warriors are very strong at the moment. Can easily add warlock buff or marine buff as necessary at lvl 10. Quite a few warriors (Doom, Berserker, Abyssal Guard) have good base dps stats which are made even better by Glacier buff.
Cons: Requires 3 different 4-costs and lvl 9 to function, making it hard to pull off, although you can play 6 warriors or 4 glacier/3 warriors until then. Berserker still needs items to carry you. May be nuked down by mages until you get Marine buff in.
Try to 3* Doctor, Tusk and Abyssal Guard. Options for lvl 10 are warlocks (Pref. Dark Spirit or Venomancer), Storm Shaman, Marine (Pref Siren) or Legendaries.
14. Goblin Mages
 Heaven Bomber (1 Cost) |  Sky Breaker (1 Cost) |  Soul Breaker (1 Cost) |  Ripper (2 Cost) |  Venomancer (4 Cost) |  Devastator (5 Cost) | Shadow Devil (3 Cost) | The Source (2 Cost) | Thunder Spirit (3 Cost) | Tortola Elder (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Goblin Mages
Pros: Your entire team is tanky against physical damage due to the recently buffed goblin buff. Very easy to 3* all of your 1 and 2 cost goblins. Usually not contested. Mages provide good burst damage and the mana generation can really help your goblins. Goblins are also very strong early game and are surprisingly good in the current meta due to the lack of mages (in my experience).
Cons: Devastator is a 5-cost and is unfortunately not optional. Also gets completely shut down by mages and Gods. Your enemy may have enough damage to kill your goblins regardless of the goblin buff. Goblins also fall off mid-game so you may take a lot of damage before you find Devastator. Human silence and Taboo witcher mana drain also make your goblins useless. Also can’t put in marines as you’d either lose mage or goblin buff.
My preferred variation of goblins, now comes with free warlock passive. Can replace Shadow Devil with Dark Spirit if vs Knights or with 2* Helicopter. Can replace Thunder Spirit or Tortolla with God of Thunder or Blight 2*.
15. Goblin Warlocks
Heaven Bomber (1 Cost) | Sky Breaker (1 Cost) | Soul Breaker (1 Cost) | Ripper (2 Cost) | Venomancer (4 Cost) | Devastator (5 Cost) |  Dark Spirit (5 Cost) | Soul Reaper (4 Cost) | Shadow Devil (3 Cost) |  Blight Sorcerer (5 Cost) |
Team Builder: Goblin Warlocks
Pros: Even tankier than Goblin Mages due to the added healing from 4 warlocks and Soul Reaper. Dark Spirit absolutely shreds tanky comps. Can swap in Marines if necessary to help against mages.
Cons: Now requires even MORE Legendaries, yay! Has the same mid-game issues as Goblin mages. Also still usually gets destroyed by Mages and Gods, even with marine buff.
Blight can replaced for any other Egersis. Super tanky vs physical damage but not advisable to play this against Gods or Mages. Play Marines over 2 warlocks if necessary.
16. God (Divinity) Mages
 God of War (1 Cost) |  God of Thunder (5 Cost) | The Source (2 Cost) | Thunder Spirit (3 Cost) | Desperate Doctor (2 Cost) | Siren (4 Cost) | Storm Shaman (4 Cost) | Soul Reaper (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Divinity Mages
Pros: Probably the best late game comp still if you hit everything. Even with the GoW nerfs he’s still insanely tanky at 3*. The warlock change means you no longer need to run Poison Worm or Venomancer which gives you an extra slot for cool stuff. Relevant throughout the entire game if you hit your upgrades. With mana items, this comp can be unstoppable.
Cons: Without mana items, your abilities might go off after your opponents which is bad because if you get cc’d, you’re almost certainly dead. Also, Assassins can bypass your only tank (GoW) and kill your backline. Human Mages will usually destroy you unless your Storm Shaman has a lot of mana items to cast before their cc/burst. You also can’t use a lot of units due to how Divinity functions.
Now even stronger due to only needing 2 warlocks. Use Shining Dragon until you find GoT. Other options to consider; Lord of Sand (Lots of CC), 3* Goblins, Tsunami (over Siren), Dark Spirit (Will have to replace Thunder Spirit with Shining Dragon), Devastator.
17. God (Divinity) Killer
Tortola Elder (4 Cost) | Thunder Spirit (3 Cost) | The Source (2 Cost) | Pirate Captain (4 Cost) | Storm Shaman (4 Cost) | Werewolf (3 Cost) | Siren (4 Cost) |  Tsunami Stalker (5 Cost) |
Team Builder: Divinity Killer
Pros: Designed to counter Gods in every way. You can human silence their key CC units, CC their entire team and then nuke them out of orbit. It’s essentially a slightly adapted 3 Mage comp which sacrifices your warrior frontline for marine buff + more cc. You don’t need warriors as God teams generally deal very little autoattack damage so your frontline doesn’t matter.
Cons: Because you’ve sacrificed your frontline, you’ll probably lose to any comp that either stops your cc going off or survives it. I’d only suggest going this team as a late-game pivot to beat a God player.
You basically want to position your humans to silence their CC units (Siren/Tsunami and Storm Shaman) if they try to frontline them and you want to put your Storm Shaman + Tsunami in front of their team to tank damage and instant cast. You can add another warrior (stone spirit or doom usually) for more tankiness, OR add Helicopter/Shadow Devil for more burst.
18. Hunters
 Dwarf Sniper (3 Cost) |  Egersis Ranger (1 Cost) | Siren (4 Cost) | Skull Hunter (2 Cost) | Tsunami Stalker (5 Cost) | Wind Ranger (3 Cost) | God of War (1 Cost) | Soul Reaper (4 Cost) | Shining Archer (2 Cost) |
Team Builder: Hunters
Pros: 6 hunters is now very easy to pull off with the addition of Shining Archer, meaning you can hit a huge dps powerspike much earlier. Hunters do a lot of sustained physical damage, have in-built marine buff, have good CC and easy access to Egersis buff. God of War 3* is the best individual tank for hunters and buys them plenty of time to kill everything. Can utilise any item very well – dps items on Egersis 3* or sniper, mana items on Siren, tank items on GoW and Ability buff items on WR. Hunters are also strong throughout the entire game as long as they have a frontline and are the counter to one of the currently popular comps (feathered). Also has 3 slots to adapt to your opponents.
Cons: If you can’t get GoW 3*, you’ll usually be competing with either the warrior players or the Feathered/Assassin players for your frontline (see below). Also, if you’re against a GoW 3* or a high-armour comp like Warriors, Goblins or Assassins, you may not deal enough damage to beat them if you don’t have good items. As always, Siren is very slow without mana items.
Usually I replace Skull Hunter with Tsunami if he’s not already 3*. If you can’t get a 3* God of War, you can use Pirate / Werewolf / Doom. Alternatively, you can use the full cave clan or Warpwood Sage/Razorclaw. If you don’t need more cc and just want more dmg, you can consider 4 egersis and possibly add a warlock at 10. At 9/10 I usually add legendaries or CC units (Pirate, Storm Shaman, Doom).
19. Hunter Warriors
Siren (4 Cost) | Egersis Ranger (1 Cost) | Wind Ranger (3 Cost) | Tusk Champion (1 Cost) | Abyssal Guard (2 Cost) | Werewolf (3 Cost) | Pirate Captain (4 Cost) | Doom Arbiter (4 Cost) | Berserker (4 Cost) | Soul Reaper (4 Cost) |
Team Builder: Hunter Warriors
Pros: Probably one of my favourite builds currently. Very flexible – you can use any warriors and any hunters early game (Although you do want to find the ideal units later on). Can use Sniper or Windranger late game, I just prefer WR. Doesn’t rely on GoW 3* like my 6 hunter build. Easy to 3* Tusk and Abyssal Guard for an even stronger frontline. Strong throughout the entire game and probably has better late-game potential than 6 hunters due to the amount of 4-cost warriors you can slot in and not having the run the worse hunters.
Cons: Expensive – You need a lot of 4-costs for this build to really pop off although you can use budget warriors until you find them. Also has less damage than 6 hunters and is worse vs feathered due to less pierce. Warriors and hunters are both quite contested at the moment as well.
You can replace Wind Ranger with any other hunter but Siren and Egersis are core. 6 warriors aren’t always necessary (And I often won’t run 6 warriors as games usually end before lvl 10) – Can replace Tusk and Berserker for Razorclaw and Dark Spirit to be strongest against Knights and Warriors.
As for which of these builds I think are currently the strongest (as of writing this guide), i’d say the Feathered Assassins, Beast Warriors and Warrior Hunters, although I have success with every single one of these builds (even if I don’t play them often). Thanks for reading!
Check out my updated meta build guide
