Novice — guide

In short

Novice is a Common Attack champion from the Sacred Order with a single skill: a one-target hit with a 10% chance to place 30% Decrease DEF for 2 turns. He scores below 1 out of 5 in every area of the game, so his job is fodder. No gear, no masteries, no tomes — nothing should go into him.

Strengths

• He does bring a real debuff: 30% Decrease DEF for 2 turns is useful against any high-DEF target.
• Spirit affinity hits Force champions with an advantage, which can matter in the very first campaign stages.
• Free and available immediately, so he fills an empty slot on day one.
• His skill levels up from duplicates only — he never competes for tomes.

Weaknesses

• A single skill: no AoE, no buffs, no team utility at all.
• The debuff starts at a 10% chance and even a fully levelled skill caps out at 25%.
• Weak base stats: 892 ATK and 83 SPD mean he neither hits hard nor moves early.
• No base ACC whatsoever, so the debuff will be resisted most of the time.

Where to use

The site author rates him 0.5 out of 5 everywhere — Clan Boss, Hydra, Chimera, Arena, Dungeons, Hard mode, Doom Tower, Faction Wars and Sintranos.

• Campaign: only the first few clears while you have nobody better.
• Faction Wars (Sacred Order): a filler body at best, if the slot would otherwise be empty.
• Everything else: use him as food — level him up and feed him to rank up champions that matter.

Stats and gear

Don't build him. The author's build list is empty, which is the recommendation in itself: keep your artifacts for real champions. If you absolutely must field him:

• Speed — SPD boots so the debuff can land before your damage dealers act.
• Accuracy — ACC chest and accessories, otherwise 30% Decrease DEF simply won't stick.
• Attack and crit stats only with gear that is already lying around unused.

Masteries and blessings

Buying masteries for fodder is wasted silver. If he is already being levelled as food, take whatever in the Attack tree and move on — do not rebuild him. Common champions cannot take blessings, so that section is irrelevant here.

Tombs

No tomes. Common champions gain skill levels from duplicates only, so tomes are not even an option. And even if they were, extra damage and a chance bump to 25% are not worth a single book.

Verdict

Fodder, plain and simple: keep him for the first hour or two, then feed him away. Gear, masteries or time spent on Novice is pure waste.