Hero Wars: Alliance Arena guide: defence wins ties, and the emerald payouts climb fast

In the Hero Wars: Alliance Arena, a fight that ends with both teams standing goes to the defender, and Trophies move on defence as well as offence, with no daily cap either way. Get your setup right and the daily payouts climb from a few thousand gold in Iron to 1,500 emeralds a day in Legends.

There's no single best Arena team to copy, and because the fights are automatic, most of the advice below is about setup and habits. For current hero strength, check the Hero Wars tier list, updated on 26 October 2026 for the Wodryn update.

Arena basics: unlock, teams and tickets

The Arena is a PvP mode that unlocks at team level 10, and you set two teams. Your defence team is built in the Arena menu and fights whenever another player attacks you. Your attack team is gathered after you choose an opponent.

Every fight costs an Arena Ticket. You get five free tickets every day at the daily reset. Each emerald purchase adds five more attempts, and a higher VIP level lets you make more of those purchases per day. Our view: make the free five part of your daily routine, and think hard before buying more with emeralds unless you're pushing for a league cut-off.

How Arena battles work

Battles last two minutes and are fully automatic. You can't steer them. The server works out the result, and the fight you watch is a recording you can skip.

If both teams are still standing when the clock runs out, the defence team wins. Since you can't intervene, all your skill goes into the lineup you pick before the fight.

Building your Arena teams

Think of this as a guideline, not a fixed recipe. Because a stalemate favours the defender, a defence that stays alive for two minutes is worth more than one built purely to deal damage. On attack, you need to actually finish the fight, so look at your opponent's defence before spending a ticket.

For investment, Hero Wars has no free-choice gear. Equipment follows a fixed path per hero, so your real choices are artifact levels and stars, glyph levels, skins, Gift of the Elements and pet patronage. Spread those resources across the heroes you actually field in the Arena instead of spiking one hero. Browse the Hero Wars heroes page for options, and run your roster through the Hero Wars optimiser.

Matchmaking: who you will face

You're matched against players from all servers and regions, with an opponent close to your ranking. Win a lot and you'll see higher-ranking opponents more often. Lose a lot and you get lower-ranking ones.

The Arena menu also has a Reroll option for opponents, so you aren't stuck with the first matchup you're shown.

Trophies and leagues

Win a battle, in attack or defence, and you gain Trophies. Lose and you drop some. The amount depends on the result, your current league and the ranking gap to your opponent. There is no daily limit on gains or losses, so your defence team deserves as much care as your attack.

The leagues run Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Emerald and Diamond, each with tiers I to III, then Legends at the top. Legends is capped at the top 50 players. Diamond III is the top 500, Diamond II the top 5,000 and Diamond I the top 20,000.

Arena rewards worth chasing

League bonuses come in three forms: a one-time promotion reward, a daily bonus collected on your first Arena entry of the day, and a seasonal reward from Emerald I upward. The daily bonus depends on your highest position the previous day. The league day resets at 2:00 AM UTC.

Here is what the daily bonus looks like at five points on the ladder:

| League | Arena Coins | Gold | Emeralds | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Iron I | 10 | 5,000 | none listed | | Gold I | 350 | 110,000 | 30 | | Emerald I | 500 | 200,000 | 200 | | Diamond III | 750 | 300,000 | 1,000 | | Legends | 1,000 | 500,000 | 1,500 |

The emerald jump from Emerald I to Diamond III is the real prize. The Legends seasonal reward includes a unique skin, though that prize may change in future updates.

Season reset

At season end, players in Emerald I and higher have their league and Trophies reset, and restart in Emerald I with 9,000 Trophies. The in-game Info button shows which leagues are affected. If you're sitting in a high league, expect to rebuild your rank each season.

Tips for climbing

1. Treat defence as a daily job. Trophies change when you're attacked, so set your defence team in the Arena menu and revisit it often.
2. Use the Reroll. Check opponents before spending a ticket.
3. Use the Arena Journal. It stores replays, which you can share with Guild members, plus detailed battle statistics, handy for working out why a fight went wrong.
4. Make the five free tickets routine. They arrive at the daily reset.
5. Collect the daily bonus on your first Arena entry of the day. The league day resets at 2:00 AM UTC, and the bonus reflects your highest position the previous day.

For more team ideas, see our Hero Wars guides, or head back to the Hero Wars hub for the latest news.

Images: © Nexters Global Ltd..