Amber is the original jack-of-all-trades character, boasting rounded stats and a very passive Hero Ability. She is among the weaker Heroes in Armello, lacking any serious advantage over her competitors. Her unpredictability is her greatest asset, and players looking to bring this Rabbit Clan Hero should be prepared to embrace that strength to the fullest. With cunning and versatility, Amber can climb her way straight onto the throne with ease.
Amber Hero Overview
- Hero: Amber
- Clan Affinity: Day
- Fight: 3
- Body: 5
- Wits: 4
- Spirit: 4
- Hero Ability: Tomb Raider, Amber has a higher chance of finding rewards when exploring dungeons.
As a jack of all trades, Amber’s stats are relatively even across the board. Her Fight of 3 is relatively low, but her Wits and Spirit of 4 make up for this minor deficit. Amber can play into any archetype, but often fits best into spellcaster and trickster strategies due to her low Fight. Her Body of 5 allows her to tank a deceptive amount of damage, which is a must for Heroes looking to avoid direct confrontation. Amber also starts with a whopping 8 gold, tying her with Barnaby for highest starting gold.
When to Use Amber
Amber doesn’t have any truly great matchups, but she doesn’t have a lot of truly bad matchups either. She is fairly consistent in her abilities, thanks to her rounded stats. For this reason, Amber’s most comfortable board is one populated by Heroes who rely at least somewhat on luck. The Dragon Clan Heroes’ reliance on rot and Griotte’s reliance on gold mean that they will fail to execute their strategies if they can’t accrue their resources. Amber has no such need, and can thrive on a board populated by complex yet fragile strategies.
We can’t let Scarlet save that town, now, can we?
Bring Amber when you’re faced with 1 or more heroes who have rigid, complex strategies. Griotte, Mercurio, Scarlet, Barnaby and Yordana can all fit into this category in various different ways. Ultimately, these Heroes are all reliant on either specific cards or resources they need to acquire in-game. While Amber isn’t guaranteed a good matchup, a board populated by 2 or more of these Heroes is likely to present her with a window to snag the crown.
Amber’s Hero Ability
Amber’s Hero Ability, Tomb Raider, is a bit of a trap. It allows Amber to find more rewards in dungeons, which at first sounds valuable. Unfortunately, the ability is still wholly dependent on randomness. Amber’s Hero Ability has the least strategic play, and the least usefulness overall. Amber can still awaken banes, recruit The Stranger and attain minimum reward rolls. The chance of these events is simply slightly lower.
Tomb Raider’s random nature hinders Amber at times…
What’s more, many in the Armello community have speculated that Tomb Raider is bugged, and does not actually have an effect. League of Geeks has neither confirmed nor denied these claims. It’s hard to know if Tomb Raider is really bugged, or if the benefit is just barely noticeable to begin with. Regardless of the answer, you can be assured that Tomb Raider is among the worst Hero Abilities in Armello. At best it reduces the effects of randomness slightly, at worst it does nothing at all.
Amulets
Thanks to Amber’s mixed stats, she has a bit more variety in her builds than most other Heroes. Most amulets provide some benefit to Amber, but the four stat-increasing options are of particular importance. Taking the amulet that gives +1 to the stat you want to invest least in is preferred as Amber.
Thanks to Scratch for this lovely King kill in progress!
A spellcasting build may choose Feel, granting her +1 Spirit. This allows her to cast all but 2 of the cards in the spell deck, and saves her quest rewards for her Wits and Body. However, this can make it more difficult to challenge the King unless Amber relies on rot. A more trickster-oriented Amber build may choose either Soak for +1 Body or Scratch for +1 Fight. This build is a bit more reliant on gold, and will need to capture settlements to fund Amber’s Trickery cards. Think is generally the least appealing choice, since Wits is a top target for quest investment.
The best amulet for Amber is extremely build dependent. As a jack of all trades, Amber prefers the 4 stat-raising amulets; Scratch, Soak, Think and Feel.
Rings
Because Amber has so many tricks up her sleeve, Pink Topaz is immediately valuable. Granting double income from claimed settlements, Pink Topaz rewards heavy board control and aggressive gold spending. The ring is best for trickery-oriented builds, but can be valuable in almost any scenario where Amber holds settlements.
Pink Topaz makes protecting settlements worth the gold!
Rainbow Quartz is also a good pick, granting +1 gold and +1 magic at dawn. Effectively, this ring counts as both an extra point of Spirit and a claimed settlement. For spellcaster Amber builds, the magic boost at dawn can enable extra spellcasting while the gold helps to build her equipment shelf. It isn’t quite as reliable as Pink Topaz, but can be powerful nonetheless.
The best ring for Amber is either Rainbow Quartz or Pink Topaz. For spellcasters, run Rainbow Quartz. For tricksters, Pink Topaz. Many of the other Rabbit Clan rings can be lackluster at best, but these 2 premier options can grant powerful boosts to Amber.
Quest Selection
When examining quest selection for a balanced Hero, it’s important to keep in mind that not all stats are created equal. Spirit and Fight have relatively narrow scope, being relevant primarily to spellcasters and fighters respectively. There is a minimum threshold below which all Heroes suffer when lacking these stats, but above that threshold, each point gives diminishing returns. Body and Wits, however, are important to all Heroes. Your Wits raises your hand size, and each card in hand is a tool available for your use. Likewise, every point in Body is another hit you can take before being returned to your clan grounds.
Not the best treasure, but the Body reward is worthwhile.
For these reasons, it’s best to use your ring and amulet choices to round out your Fight or Spirit. Your stat investments as Amber should go towards Body and Wits, regardless of your strategy. This allows Amber to hold 6 cards in hand, and reach a whopping 7 Body. Although she does not want to face other Heroes head on, the Body will help you survive unfortunate encounters while your Wits lets you use your low Fight more reliably.
Amber Sets
Amber’s main strengths are her well-rounded and versatile stats. Thanks to her fairly even distribution across the board, she has the option to play as any archetype she likes.
For my next trick, I will make this palace peril disappear!
The strongest Amber builds, however, will be the ones that rely least on combat. For this reason, trickster and spellcaster builds tend to work best for Amber.
Spellcaster Amber
- Amulet: Feel
- Ring: Rainbow Quartz
- Quests: 2 Wits, 2 Body
As a spellcaster, Amber wants to avoid head-to-head combat and navigate the board with Spells. Rainbow Quartz helps grant her the gold needed to equip cards from the Item deck, while her Spirit of 5 enables aggressive spellcasting. Rot and spirit stones are spellcaster Amber’s best tools to take the throne, but with the right equipment, she can confront the King in combat as well. The most important thing about playing Amber as a spellcaster is avoiding unnecessary combat, since her Fight of 3 can easily be her downfall.
This Amber wants to become a grand spellcaster…
This Amber set does well against specialized Heroes with low Fight or Body. Twiss, Elyssia, Yordana and Volodar are among her best targets. Be wary of aggressive fighter or rot Heroes, like Thane, River, Fang, Sylas and Hargrave. These Heroes have the Fight to take Amber out with ease, and the Body to survive her lackluster damage. Frailer fighters, such as Zoeha and Griotte, may be vulnerable to damage from Amber’s spells. If you must face one or move of these Heroes in combat, using combat buffs from the Spell deck can significantly improve your odds.
Trickster Amber
- Amulet: Scratch
- Ring: Pink Topaz
- Quests: 2 Wits, 2 Body
Amber also has the option of playing as a dedicated trickster, relying on the Item and Trickery decks to disrupt her foes. Her decent Spirit allows her to continue dabbling in the Spell deck, and building up her Wits allows her to comfortably burn cards. Raising Amber’s Fight to 4 is very important for this set, as she won’t be able to rely on the Spell deck to boost her combat abilities in a pinch. It’s also important to have strong offensive and defensive equipment, which is funded by the Pink Topaz ring. The goal of trickster Amber is to lock down her opponents, accrue the best equipment cards, and ultimately kill the King.
…And this Amber wants to be a conniving trickster!
This set fares a bit better against spellcaster and trickster Heroes that are willing to pick fights. Scarlet, Nazar, Sana and Griotte are all manageable matchups for trickster Amber as long as she can deprive them of their key resources. Prestige for Scarlet, rot for Nazar and Sana, settlements for Griotte. Against dedicated fighters, however, this trickster Amber struggles far more than spellcaster Amber. She also maintains the ability to disrupt Heroes like Fang, Twiss and Elyssia thanks to her abundance of Trickery cards.
In Conclusion
Although Amber is overwhelmingly average, she can still find a foothold in Armello. For those seeking versatility and straightforward strategy, Amber is a good choice. She is a consistent Hero with a reliable stat distribution, despite her abysmal Hero Ability. Her versatility is her boon, and in the proper hands, it is enough to reign over all of Armello alone.
