Alaric The Hooded — guide

In short

Alaric The Hooded is an Epic Attack champion of the Force affinity from the Banner Lords, and he is not about damage — he is about control: turn meter reduction, buff removal and stealing, plus AoE debuffs. His real home is Faction Wars (his own aura) and Arena against buff-heavy teams. The site author is blunt: food, send him to the vault. If you do build him, priority is Speed and Accuracy, not damage.

Strengths

• His A3 "Crimson Commander" puts 50% Decrease ATK and 50% Decrease ACC on all enemies for 2 turns at a 75% chance — that genuinely cuts incoming damage on waves and in Arena.
• A2 "Call for Support" removes 2 random buffs, and against targets with 4+ buffs it steals them instead — decent against shields and buff stacking.
• A1 "Blind Fury" reduces turn meter, and more so the more buffs the target carries.
• Aura of +29% Attack in Faction Crypts is a real help for clearing FW.

Weaknesses

• Base Attack of only 1454 while all his damage scales off ATK — he is not a damage dealer.
• 98 base Speed and no self-buff or speed boost: his debuffs land late.
• Decrease ATK and Decrease ACC do nothing where bosses are immune or fights drag on — hence the poor Hydra and high-difficulty results.
• Every effect is a chance roll and never guaranteed, and he is squishy with 793 Defense.

Where to use

Best areas: Faction Wars (3.0) for the aura and wave control, then Arena (3.0) as a debuffer against buff teams, then regular Dungeons (3.0) on mob waves. In Clan Boss, Chimera and Doom Tower (2.5) he is only tolerable early on. Skip him entirely for Hydra and hard content (1.0).

Stats and gear

Priority: Speed → Accuracy → survivability (HP/DEF); C.RATE and C.DMG only as leftovers. Rough targets: SPD 200–250, ACC 200–250 (higher for Arena, 300+), enough HP and DEF to survive to a second rotation. From the build list use the Malefic Talon and Irethi Coronet relics; for sets, Speed and Accuracy/Perception are the standard picks.

Masteries and blessings

Offense tree: Pierce Defenses and Boss Slayer from the build list, then fill in whatever Accuracy and Speed you need. No blessings are listed for him — he is not worth rare blessing resources; save those for champions you actually use.

Tomages

If you must book him, do A3 first: it carries both the debuff chance and the cooldown reduction, i.e. all of his value. Then A2 (cooldown -1), and A1 last. Honestly though, tomes are wasted here.

Verdict

A narrow, situational debuffer for Faction Wars and Arena who contributes almost nothing elsewhere. The site author is right: vault him, use him as food.