The Arena is one of AFK Journey’s PVP Battle Modes where you can fight other players’ hero teams for the chance to climb the ranking tiers and get better rewards.
Read more to learn all Arena features, the best heroes and teams you can use in Arena, and a few tips that’ll help you get higher-tier placements for more Gold, Arena Coins, and Diamonds!
Arena Overview (Teams, Tiers, & Rewards)
This section explains what Arena is all about, what you can do in this PVP Battle Mode, as well as what items you can get by climbing the Arena tiers.
How Does The Arena Work In AFK Journey?
Arena allows you to pick from three opponents—each player belonging to either a tier below, above, or equal to yours. You can also Refresh these three opponents, giving you three new players to pick from.
The objective in Arena is simple—win as many battles as you can and reach higher tiers. You can do this by setting up a good Defense Team and making adjustments to your Offense Team whenever necessary.
NOTE: Fighting players in higher tiers than you will yield more Arena points. You get points every time you win and lose points every time you lose. The amount of points you lose or gain depends on the tier placement of the player you choose to fight.
You can build two teams in the Arena:
- Defense Team: The team that fights other players' teams whenever you're selected as an opponent. You can set your Defense Team on any of the five Arena Maps available, and all battles against that Defense Team will take place in whatever Arena Map you choose.
- Offense Team: The team that attacks other players' Defense Teams whenever you choose an opponent. You can customize your Offense Team before any battle, but the Arena Map you're fighting in depends on what the opposing player has set for his Defense Team.
The higher your Arena Tier, the more Arena Maps you’ll be able to unlock and deploy your Defense Team in.
Different Arena Maps have unique wall and tile placements, which allow players to customize their Defense Team in terms of aggro management and hero positioning and make it tougher for attacking opponents to beat them.
TIP: Change your default Arena Map (Arena I) to any Arena Map that best suits your team composition as soon as you can. A Defense-focused team, for example, can benefit from an Arena Map that limits hero-crowding, like Arena III or Arena V.
Arena Tiers & Rewards
There are 19 different Arena Tiers in AFK Journey. Listed in the table below are all of the Arena Tiers, as well as the rewards you can obtain by achieving them and how many points you need to get to each tier.
| Arena Tiers | Rewards | Point Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Novice I | Daily: 70 Arena Coins, 20K Gold Weekly: 300 Arena Coins, 70K Gold First-time: None | 1,000 – 1,050 Points |
| Novice II | Daily: 80 Arena Coins, 20K Gold Weekly: 350 Arena Coins, 70K Gold First-time: 800 Diamonds | 1,050 – 1,150 Points |
| Novice III | Daily: 100 Arena Coins, 20K Gold Weekly: 400 Arena Coins, 71K Gold First-time: 830 Diamonds | 1,150 – 1,300 Points |
| Adept I | Daily: 140 Arena Coins, 20K Gold Weekly: 500 Arena Coins, 72K Gold First-time: 870 Diamonds | 1,300 – 1,450 Points |
| Adept II | Daily: 150 Arena Coins, 21K Gold Weekly: 550 Arena Coins, 73K Gold First-time: 900 Diamonds | 1,450 – 1,600 Points |
| Adept III | Daily: 170 Arena Coins, 21K Gold Weekly: 650 Arena Coins, 74K Gold First-time: 940 Diamonds | 1,600 – 1,750 Points |
| Elite I | Daily: 210 Arena Coins, 21K Gold Weekly: 700 Arena Coins, 76K Gold First-time: 980 Diamonds | 1,750 – 1,900 Points |
| Elite II | Daily: 220 Arena Coins, 22K Gold Weekly: 750 Arena Coins, 77K Gold First-time: 1,010 Diamonds | 1,900 – 2,050 Points |
| Elite III | Daily: 240 Arena Coins, 22K Gold Weekly: 850 Arena Coins, 79K Gold First-time: 1,050 Diamonds | 2,050 – 2,200 Points |
| Epic I | Daily: 280 Arena Coins, 23K Gold Weekly: 900 Arena Coins, 80K Gold, 4 EXP Hourglass (1HR) First-time: 1,080 Diamonds | 2,200 – 2,350 Points |
| Epic II | Daily: 290 Arena Coins, 23K Gold Weekly: 1,000 Arena Coins, 82K Gold, 4 EXP Hourglass (1HR) First-time: 1,115 Diamonds | 2,350 – 2500 Points |
| Epic III | Daily: 310 Arena Coins, 23K Gold Weekly: 1,050 Arena Coins, 83K Gold, 4 EXP Hourglass (1HR) First-time: 1,150 Diamonds | 2,500 – 2,650 Points |
| Legendary I | Daily: 350 Arena Coins, 24K Gold Weekly: 1,100 Arena Coins, 85K Gold, 6 EXP Hourglass (1HR) First-time: 1,190 Diamonds, 15 Temporal Essence | 2,650 – 2,800 Points |
| Legendary II | Daily: 380 Arena Coins, 25K Gold Weekly: 1,200 Arena Coins, 88K Gold, 8 EXP Hourglass (1HR) First-time: 1,220 Diamonds, 20 Temporal Essence | 2,800 – 3,000 Points |
| Legendary III | Daily: 420 Arena Coins, 25K Gold Weekly: 1,250 Arena Coins, 89K Gold, 8 EXP Hourglass (1HR) First-time: 1,260 Diamonds, 25 Temporal Essence | 3,000+ Points |
| Champion | Daily: 560 Arena Coins, 26K Gold Weekly: 1,550 Arena Coins, 90K Gold, 12 EXP Hourglass (1HR), 3 Twilight Essence First-time: 1,500 Diamonds, 25 Temporal Essence, 25 Twilight Essence | Top 101 – 200 |
| Champion | Daily: 630 Arena Coins, 26K Gold Weekly: 1,700 Arena Coins, 92K Gold, 12 EXP Hourglass (1HR), 4 Twilight Essence, Radiance Contest Frame First-time: 2,000 Diamonds, 25 Temporal Essence, 25 Twilight Essence | Top 21 – 100 |
| Champion | Daily: 700 Arena Coins, 26K Gold Weekly: 1,800 Arena Coins, 94K Gold, 16 EXP Hourglass (1HR), 5 Twilight Essence, Iron Veteran Title, Crescent Medal Frame First-time: 2,500 Diamonds, 25 Temporal Essence, 25 Twilight Essence | Top 6 – 20 |
| Champion | Daily: 840 Arena Coins, 27K Gold Weekly: 2,100 Arena Coins, 95K Gold, 16 EXP Hourglass (1HR), 6 Twilight Essence, Apex Conqueror Title, Sun Crown Frame First-time: 3,000 Diamonds, 25 Temporal Essence, 25 Twilight Essence | Top 1 – 5 |
Best Heroes For Arena In AFK Journey
Below are the best heroes for each role in the Arena—Tank, Damage Dealer, and Support.
Best Tanks For Arena
Here are the best Tanks that can be considered “meta” for Arena teams:
| Recommended Tanks For Arena | Description |
|---|---|
 | Thoran |
| Thoran is the best tank to use in the Arena. He fits well in almost any team simply because he’s the best at what he does, and that is taking a ton of damage for your team before he dies. He can potentially deal a lot of damage with his Ultimate too, so long as he keeps the enemy aggro on him and survives. | |
 | Grannie Dahnie |
| Grannie Dahnie is a Wilder tank that has great survivability. She self-heals and drains Energy from enemies caught in her Ultimate Skill's range which, in addition to her ability to taunt enemies attacking your lowest-HP hero, makes her a great choice at least in the early to mid-game stages. |
Here are some alternative heroes that you can use when building your Arena team if you don’t have any of our recommended Tanks:
| Alternative Tanks For Arena | Description |
|---|---|
 | Lucius |
| Lucius is a beginner-friendly alternative to Thoran or Granny, as you get several copies of him at the start of the game. He’s a decent tank who can give shields to allies, so don’t hesitate to use him on your team if you don’t have other top-tier tanks. | |
 | Antandra |
| Antandra is another great A-level tank that’s easy to get early on. She’s arguably better than Lucius because of her ability to taunt multiple heroes at once, which comes in handy in the Arena where you want to keep enemy aggro away from your backline units at all times. |
Best Damage Dealers For Arena
Here are the best Damage Dealers that can be considered “meta” for Arena teams:
| Recommended Damage Dealers For Arena | Description |
|---|---|
 | Cecia |
| Almost every player in the Arena will have Cecia on their team, and that’s not only because she’s given away for free in your first 10-pull. She’s also one of the best DPS units for any game mode—especially so in the Arena where her summon can decimate the entire backline if left unattended. | |
 | Vala |
| Vala is one of the few units in the game that can target backline enemies from afar. This makes her a great counter for top-tier backliners like Cecia, Hewynn, or Rowan, not to mention she can also survive frequent backline dives on her Sword Mode significantly well at Mythic+. | |
 | Igor |
| Igor is one of the hardest units to deal with in PVP, as he’s extremely survivable and can potentially stall attacking teams while he’s on defense. Moreover, he can also deal tremendous damage if left alone and paired up with a decent healer. | |
 | Scarlita |
| Scarlita is arguably the most complete DPS unit for Arena battles, but she needs a ton of investment to be viable. She’s the ideal Warrior—incredibly tough, deals a lot of AoE Damage, and supports your allies by improving their survivability. | |
 | Eironn |
| Eironn is not only a great individual damage dealer, but he can also devastate enemy teams by setting up combos with his Ultimate which gathers enemy units and immobilizes them for a few seconds. He becomes especially deadly when paired up with good AoE Damage Dealers. | |
 | Shakir |
| In his Wolf Form, Shakir is tougher to kill than most heroes in his class which, combined with his enhanced damage, makes him a dangerous damage dealer who can both shred enemy units and give his team bonus Haste and Damage Reductions. |
Here are some alternative heroes that you can use when building your Arena team if you don’t have any of our recommended Damage Dealers:
| Alternative Damage Dealers For Arena | Description |
|---|---|
 | Odie |
| Odie might not be able to focus his attacks on backline units unlike most heroes on this list, but he’ll still give you a great DPS boost in the Arena, allowing you to kill frontline units faster. | |
 | Marilee |
| Marilee’s just like Odie in that she allows you to kill tanks faster on account of her amazing DPS potential at higher Ascension tiers. | |
 | Valen |
| You get multiple copies of Valen early on from your Growth Path missions. He makes for a terrific stopgap AoE damage dealer too, so don’t hesitate to put him on your team if you lack better DPS units. | |
 | Seth |
| Seth is an A-Level Rogue who specializes in cleaning up low-HP enemy units. He’s one of the more “balanced” Rogues as his skills give him Life Drain, allowing him to sustain himself while backline-diving. | |
 | Silvina |
| Like Seth, Silvina can skip frontline tanks and attack backline units right at the start of the battle, but her only issue is her lack of survivability, which only gets remedied once she gets to Mythic+. | |
 | Korin |
| Korin can be considered a tank-support hybrid with his decent toughness and ability to constantly provide shields to his allies and himself. But on top of that, he can also deal True Damage, which cannot be mitigated by any defense-related stat. |
Best Supports For Arena
Here are the best Supports that can be considered “meta” for Arena teams:
| Recommended Supports For Arena | Description |
|---|---|
 | Rowan |
| Rowan is the only reliable Energy battery in AFK Journey and is a very significant addition to the backline of any Arena team. He can also heal allied units which, despite not being as effective as other heroes’ healing skills, provides him with enough utility to be the sole Support of most teams. | |
 | Hewynn |
| Hewynn is the best AoE healer in the game. She shines best in Defense Teams that lean heavily on sustains along with heroes like Damian and Granny Dahnie. | |
 | Damian |
| Damian is the support version of Cecia, whose summon primarily specializes in giving allies buffs and heals. His summoned unit never dies as long as there are allied units in the field, so your team technically has unlimited heals and Haste buffs as long as you have Damian deployed. | |
 | Reinier |
| Reinier is the ultimate backline disruptor in AFK Journey, as he can swap the positions of one ally and enemy unit at the start of the battle. He can also take one enemy unit completely out of play for a few seconds with his Ultimate, making the battle either a 4v4, 5v4, or even a 5v3 depending on the situation. |
Here are some alternative heroes that you can use when building your Arena team if you don’t have any of our recommended Supports:
| Alternative Supports For Arena | Description |
|---|---|
 | Smokey and Meerky |
| Smokey and Meerky have a great AoE heal and give their allies ATK buffs, making them the ideal support for more offense-oriented teams. | |
 | Koko |
| Aside from Damian, Koko is the go-to A-Level Arena support who can give your allies consistent Life Drains, Damage reductions, and decent heals. |
Best Teams For Arena In AFK Journey
The first thing you have to consider when building a team for the Arena is that you have to work with what you have, meaning you’ll most likely have to improvise depending on which heroes you have ascended the most.
Hence, the team builds we’ll share with you below can be adjusted in terms of hero selection, just as long as you keep track of your replacement heroes’ roles and their optimal positioning.
TIP: When building teams, we recommend that you deploy at least three heroes from the same Faction to take advantage of Faction bonuses. You don’t have to force it, however, like if you don’t have three or more heroes from the same faction ascended enough, for instance.
Balanced Arena Team Composition
Balanced Teams mostly consist of two tanks in the frontline and three Support/Damage Dealers in the backline—as shown in the image above.
Here’s a great example of a Balanced Team:
| Recommended Heroes (Balanced Team) | Primary Role | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Thoran | Tank | Front |
| Lucius | Tank | Front |
| Rowan | Support | Back |
| Vala | Damage Dealer | Back |
| Cecia | Damage Dealer | Back |
A Balanced Team should be your go-to build for both your Offense and Defense teams most of the time, as this set-up generally works great no matter how high the Ascension tiers of your heroes are.
You can use any Spell you want with a Balanced Team, but we suggest using either the Awakening Spell or the Confining Spell depending on whether you need heals or additional damage and crowd control.
Offense-focused Team Composition
Offense-focused teams mostly consist of one Tank in the frontline and four Support/Damage Dealers in the backline—as shown in the image above.
| Recommended Heroes (Offense-focused Team) | Primary Role | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Thoran | Tank | Front |
| Rowan | Support | Back |
| Igor | Damage Dealer | Back |
| Vala | Damage Dealer | Back |
| Cecia | Damage Dealer | Back |
We only recommend that you use an Offense-focused team whenever you’re confident that your sole Tank can hold the front line or whenever you’re going against a Defense-focused team with multiple sustains for stalling the clock.
For this build, we recommend using the Ironwall Spell if your Tank needs extra survivability or the Starshard Spell if you’d prefer to do even more damage instead. The Confining Spell is also a great choice here.
Defense-focused Team Composition
Defense-focused Teams mostly consist of two tanks in the frontline and three Supports/Damage Dealers in the backline that all have high survivability—as shown in the image above.
| Recommended Heroes (Defense-focused Team) | Primary Role | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Thoran | Tank | Front |
| Granny Dahnie | Tank | Front |
| Rowan/Damian | Support | Back |
| Hewynn | Support | Back |
| Igor | Damage Dealer | Back |
Going with a Defense-focused team can be a great choice if you want to build a Defense Team that stalls for time—leading attacking players to potentially lose from time-outs due to your Defense Team’s high sustain.
Either the Ironwall Spell or the Confining Spell works best with this build. It depends on whether you want more survivability for your tanks or to keep two backline units occasionally out of play with Imprison.
Five Tips For Arena Battles In AFK Journey
To truly optimize your Arena gameplay and get the most resources out of this Battle Mode, here are some of the best tips that you should follow.
Pick Your Fights Carefully
Despite higher-tier opponents giving you more points, we recommend fighting opponents in tiers that are either equal to or below you, especially if the difference in Power is overwhelming.
As you can see in the image above, my Power is only 117K, which is higher than the player who has the lowest Arena tier out of all the three, but much lower than the other two.
Hence, it would make much more sense to attack the player with the lower tier in this particular case to avoid a potential point deduction.
Of course, you can still attack any player with a higher Power value than you if you can optimize your team enough to win despite the difference in Power. Besides, Power should only be used as a rough guideline when gauging how tough an opponent is, as it's not exactly a 100% accurate metric.
For instance, the image above shows an opponent with higher power than me who has a predominantly Graveborn team. If I had a good Wilder team to counter them, then it might be worth it to consider attacking instead of playing it safe.
Still, attacking higher-tier players will be a high-risk, high-reward scenario most of the time, so be careful!
Choose Your Artifacts Wisely
Your Artifacts not only determine the spells you can use during battle, but they also influence what kind of stat boosts your heroes get.
Make sure to collect Artifact Shards and level up the Artifacts you currently have. Even the Awakening Spell, which is the very first spell you unlock, will do just fine if you don’t have the other Spells unlocked yet.
Here are some Spell suggestions for Arena battles:
- Awakening Spell: The best spell for beginners and players with balanced teams.
- Ironwall Spell: Useful if you have an underpowered tank or if you’re going with a one-tank, backline-heavy team.
- Confining Spell: Arguably the best spell for PVP. It occasionally incapacitates 2 backline enemy heroes, reducing enemy DPS and allowing your Rogues to penetrate the backline with less resistance.
- Enlightening Spell: Not as generally effective as the other spells mentioned above, but it’s one of the few existing counters to the Confining Spell.
Mind Your Positioning (Especially For Rogues)
Your heroes’ positioning in Arena battles is every bit as important as your hero selection. Of course, you should always make sure that your Tanks are on the frontline and less-tanky DPS and Support units are on the backline.
But beyond basic positioning, if you look at the image above, you’ll see two orbs floating above two heroes’ heads. This means that both heroes are targeted by another hero who can often skip frontline heroes and focus their attacks on a backline hero.
If you have heroes like these on your team, remember that you may be able to change their targeted enemy hero by simply moving them to another tile. You can also “juke” enemy Rogues by making them target tankier heroes in the backline or non-priority Support and DPS units this way.
Always Buy Additional Arena Attempts
You get 4 Arena attempts per day, but you can actually buy 6 additional Arena Tickets if you think it would be worth the Diamonds:
| Additional Arena Attempts | Cost |
|---|---|
| Additional Attempt 5/5 | Free |
| Additional Attempt 5/5 | 10 Diamonds |
| Additional Attempt 4/5 | 20 Diamonds |
| Additional Attempt 3/5 | 20 Diamonds |
| Additional Attempt 2/5 | 20 Diamonds |
| Additional Attempt 1/5 | 30 Diamonds |
Feel free to buy Additional Arena Tickets as you please, but we recommend buying at least the first one, which is free, every day—especially if you still have plenty of opponents you’re confident you can beat around your tier.
Get At Least 20 Arena Wins Per Week
Lastly, make sure to get at least 20 wins per week in the Arena. This is because of the Weekly Victory Reward, which gives you more Arena Coins the more Arena battles you win.
By simply winning 20 times per week, you’ll be able to farm 2,000 Arena Coins in addition to the ones you get from your Daily and Weekly ranking rewards, which is a lot!
Arena Coins are very important, as you can exchange them for S-Level Heroes in the Emporium’s Arena Store.
This makes farming Arena Coins and spending them in the Arena Store one of the best ways to get new heroes in AFK Journey—aside from using Invite Letters or Epic Invite Letters.
Conclusion
Keep everything you’ve just read in mind and you’ll have the foundation you need to dominate the Arena in AFK Journey!
If you’d like to learn more about AFK Journey, then feel free to check out the following guides:
All Treasure Locations – AFK Journey (AFK 2)
Beginner’s Guide – AFK Journey (AFK 2)
8 Beginner Tips – AFK Journey (AFK 2)
