Elder — guide

In short

Elder is a Rare Defense champion of the Barbarians with Magic affinity. His kit is reactive support — a 50% shield on the ally who took the most damage plus a self-counterattack — so the only place he does anything is Clan Boss, where that shield can occasionally save a fragile damage dealer. Build him for HP and DEF with enough Speed to cycle Protection, but do not commit: the site author's verdict is fodder.

Strengths

• Protection shields the ally who took the most damage for 50% for 2 turns and then gives Elder an extra turn — a decent safety net for squishy damage dealers.
• Spite puts a 2-turn Counterattack on himself and heals him for 15% HP — free damage from counters plus self-sustain.
• Taunting Strike has a 25% chance to place Provoke for 1 turn — on early Campaign and Dungeon waves it can genuinely pull aggro.
• As a Rare he is easy to obtain and cheap to book if you simply need to fill a slot.

Weaknesses

• Weak base stats for a defender: 14 865 HP, 1 123 DEF and only 92 Speed at 6★ — he is the one who needs protecting.
• Taunting Strike damage scales from ATK while he wants HP/DEF, so his own stats work against his skill.
• Provoke does nothing to bosses (Clan Boss and most Dungeon bosses), which removes half his kit from those fights.
• No DEF buff, no team-wide shield, no ally healing — he barely registers in a team.

Where to use

His best area is Clan Boss at 3.0: he exists there as a body with a shield and a self-heal from counters. After that come Arena, Doom Tower and Faction Wars at 1.5 each, where he is purely a slot filler. In Dungeons, Hydra, Chimera and Hard mode (1.0 and below) there is no reason to bring him.

Stats and gear

Priority: Speed → HP% / DEF% → Accuracy (only if you want Provoke to land). Rough targets: 170–200 Speed, 40 000+ HP, 2 500+ DEF, 150+ ACC for Provoke on regular waves. Sets from the build list: HP, Defense, Speed, plus Perception or Accuracy if you need the ACC. Gloves HP% or DEF%, chest HP%/DEF%, boots Speed.

Masteries and blessings

Trees: Defense and Support, plus Offense up to Warmaster if you actually run him in Clan Boss. From the build list take Puppetmaster. The rest should be standard survivability picks — DEF boosts, damage reduction and the healing/regen nodes in Support. The relic in the build is Mask of Rage. Blessings are the last thing to think about on a Rare: any cheap defensive option works, but spending on him is not worth it.

Tombs

If you book him at all, do Protection first: rank 2 cuts the cooldown by 1, and that is his main skill — more shields and more extra turns. Spite is second (also −1 cooldown). Leave Taunting Strike for last; its ranks only add damage.

Verdict

Fodder. Keep one copy if you have nothing else for Faction Wars, but he deserves no books, no good gear and no masteries.