Server: GTArcade S28 - DarkForest

Character Name: Tenshi Ireul
BR: 660,962

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How to get a high BR (and why you shouldn't):

What is BR?

BR is a measure of your total strength. Basically it just adds up the stats of you main, heroes, angels, Guardians and so forth.;

How do I raise my BR?
Pretty much every upgrade you do will raise your BR. Leveling up, hero training &upgrading, gear upgrades, and so forth. There are a few exceptions, notably rebirthing your hero, but even that will raise your stats, and thus your BR, in the long run.
The question of course is how to raise your BR as fast as possible. The most important aspects there is;diminishing returns, Snowballing;and to a lesser extent,;force multipliers.

What are diminishing returns?

This is a basic principle in most games. The higher you get, the less you get for each upgrade - usually becaus upgrades get more expensive. For instance early on, upgrading your sword costs a few thousand gold. Around level 70 we are talking about 5 million gold per upgrade. The later upgrades cost a lot more for the same returns.;
If you would want to have a high BR, thus, it generally would be most efficient to level everything equally: you pay less for the same increase. So for instance, train all your heroes and your mount equally, have your gear upgraded to the same level, and drill your heroes equally.

What are force multipliers?

In some cases, an upgrade gives a percentage increase. For instance enhance and runestones give such bonuses on your gear. Doing so on higher level gear gives a greater return than doing so on lower gear. In this case, you get slightly more BR by specializing on a single hero. This also works for soulstone and bless stone training.;However, when BR is concerned, this will usually not weigh up against the higher required investment.

What is Snowballing?
This is named after the idea of an avalanche or snowball: the bigger it gets, the more snow it drags along and the faster it grows. This is also true in games like LoA. If you have a good start, you will rank highly across the board. This means you get more rewards, for instance from world boss rankings (and odds to get a kill), domination, arena daily rewards, Cross-server and Clash of Might. It's a force multiplier on its own.

Any other ways to raise my BR?
The most obvious is paying cash. Many upgrades can be bought, although getting a serious advantage will cost you dearly. A fairly basic one is to buy clothes and wings, which you can then upgrade with CS honor. It is usually advisable to spend your money at the right time: events often give major bonuses, and cash can help you get those extra points needed. If you decide to start over, keep an eye on upcoming events: some will help you more than others. For free players, angel quiz can be very helpful in getting your character started quickly; for big paying players, Tycoon is one of the better options.
Make sure to use the;hot events as well as possible, especially in the first week. Many of these give serious rewards, in some cases returning almost your entire investment. Those are very good deals, and you should make use of them whenever you can.
Finally, consider short term vs long term. While most investments are not truly lost (a notable exception being hero experience), it still lowers your efficiency, costing you a little BR every time. So consider whether your investments will still be useful in a few weeks, and whether the quick term boost is worth the long term loss.

...And why you shouldn't...
Raising your BR is a good idea in general, but many players fail by making this their primary focus. BR is a measure of strength. It's not your actual strength, let alone your combat ability. While many of the above lessons are still useful, you should always consider whether that increase in BR will actually be worth it, or whether it can better be spent otherwise.

What do you mean?
One of the best examples comes in the midgame, once you've played for a bit over a week, up to the high lvl 60's. At some point, if you are a good player, angels will become extremely powerful, to the point that heroes will rarely be able to withstand a single blast. Training up your heroes equally is a very bad idea in that format: it means they'll be wiped off the map just the same. Instead, you may wish to train up your mount for a while, meaning that after the angel blasts, as only the mains still stand, you will have a clear advantage.
Herein again come;Force multipliers. A basic example: if you have a hero with double HP and another with double damage, each will (generally) deal twice as much damage. So they are worth 4 heroes. If however you have one hero with double damage and double HP, and one normal, the first hero is worth 4 heroes (and you have the second hero as a bonus). Add further multipliers like DEF, Crit and so on, and all those multipliers will add up fast.

With the massive angel attacks, this becomes all the more important. Training one hero will allow him to take that beating; training all of them will still get them all killed. This only changes in the late game, although even then force multipliers still easily are the better investment.;
Early on however, focus on your main. Your BR may be 20k lower, but you'll be beating opponents 30k higher.;

Finally, consider synergies. Some heroes and skills;work better together; some allow for specific strategies hat will give you an advantage. Again, no BR, but a lot of power comes from this.


Summary:

In short: raise your BR by being active, doing all activities, and investing wisely. Use force multipliers as well as possible, use events as much as you can. Try to get a snowball going, and reap the rewards! But if you want to be truly strong, then avoid "fluff" BR; focus your efforts and use upgrades as well as possible. Always consider whether the diminished returns weigh up against the force multiplication, and once you grasp this, you have a good start into making a powerful build.

Any views or opinions presented in this strategy are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the League of Angels staff.