Sir Artimage — guide

In short

Sir Artimage is an Epic Force Attack champion from Banner Lords built around one huge single-target hit, a self-cleansing AoE and an Arena Speed aura. He shines in Arena and Faction Wars, where the +20% Speed aura and the kill-triggered unremovable buffs actually matter. Build priority is Speed first, then C.RATE and C.DMG — without crit his A3 simply does not kill.

Strengths

• Arena Speed aura +20% — a free Speed lead slot in any offensive comp, and it buffs the whole team.
• Truth Be Told strips every debuff from him before hitting all enemies: a built-in cleanse against control plus an immediate answer.
• True Valour ignores 30% of the target's DEF and, on a kill, grants unremovable +50% ATK and +30% C.DMG for 2 turns — a real snowball.
• A1 hits twice with 40% chances to place 60% Decrease DEF and 30% Decrease SPD for 2 turns, useful well beyond Arena.

Weaknesses

• Base ATK is only 1,310 — low for an Epic nuker, so gear and books have to carry all the damage.
• Squishy: 14,535 HP and 1,024 DEF with zero defensive tools in the kit.
• Only one AoE, on a 4-turn cooldown (3 with books), while A3 is single-target only.
• Ratings drop in heavy PvE: Dungeons 3.0, Doom Tower 3.0, Hard mode 2.0.

Where to use

Classic and Live Arena first (3.5) — the aura and the kill buffs are exactly what those fights want. Faction Wars next (3.5), where he fills the damage slot for Banner Lords. Clan Boss, Hydra and Chimera (3.5) are workable mid-tier damage if you have nothing better. Dungeons and Doom Tower sit at 3.0 — usable, not exciting. Hard mode (2.0) is not his place; he does not survive there.

Stats and gear

Aim for 170–200 SPD so he moves after your debuffer, 100% C.RATE, 200%+ C.DMG, 3,500–4,000 ATK, and 150–200 ACC only if you want his A1 debuffs to land reliably. Skip RES entirely. Sets: Savage or Cruel for damage, Speed, Divine Speed and Perception to patch up Speed and ACC.

Masteries and blessings

Take the damage core from the Offense tree: Piercing Strike, Pierce Defenses, Foekiller, Bloodthirsty Prowess. Finish the second tree to taste — Support for ACC or Defense for a bit of survivability. Blessings: Phantom Touch for raw damage, Chainbreaker in Arena against control teams. Relics: Malefic Talon, Gorecrescent.

Tomes

Book Truth Be Told to rank 4 first for the −1 cooldown: more AoE cycles and more self-cleanses. Then put books into True Valour for damage, since that is your finisher. Leave A1 for last unless you are building him around debuffs.

Verdict

House opinion: vault / fusion — he does not deserve tomes or your best gear, and his real value is Faction Wars plus a cheap Arena nuker.