Sana is the definition of min-max in Armello. Tied for both the lowest Fight and the highest Spirit of any Hero, Sana is unapologetic about her hard spellcaster archetype. All four types of victory can fall right into Sana’s paws, thanks to her incredible Hero Ability. She can burn her enemies from afar and teleport across the board with her Spirit of 5. With her mastery over magic, Sana is a threat to even the most powerful of Armelian Heroes. With her staff in paw and the Wyld in her heart, Sana purges corruption to take the throne for herself!
Sana Hero Overview
- Hero: Sana
- Clan Affinity: Day
- Fight: 2
- Body: 6
- Wits: 3
- Spirit: 5
- Hero Ability: Priestess, when fighting a corrupted creature, use Spirit instead of Fight.
Sana is good at 2 things; Taking hits and casting spells. Her 5 starting Spirit allows her to cast all but 2 cards from the Spell deck innately. Not a single other Hero exceeds her in Body, although she ties for best with many of her Bear Clan allies. Sana is tied only with Yordana for the lowest Fight score in the game. As such, you would think her a poor choice in combat. This assumption is challenged, however, by Sana’s Hero Ability.
In combat with corrupted creatures, including the King and banes, her Spirit of 5 replaces her Fight of 2. Right out of the gate, this puts every type of victory well within her grasp. She can make use of transport spells to nab spirit stones early, slay banes and corrupted players for their precious prestige, and even tackle the king head-on.
When to Use Sana
Sana has the advantage of using her Spirit in place of Fight when in combat with corrupted creatures, which makes her an excellent pick against rot strategies. The Dragon Clan Heroes and Fang are likely to rot candidates, although Oxana’s ability to destroy opponents’ spell cards in hand can be very troublesome for Sana. Tricksters and spellcasters with average-to-low Body and Fight make good targets for Sana as well. Her high Body lets her tank out a handful of spells and weak attacks, while her spellcasting abilities allow her to snipe her enemies from afar.
Oxana can be a tricky matchup for Sana early on. Be ready for her to steal your Spell cards!
Because of her lacking Fight, Sana should be wary of fighters who aren’t committed to a rot victory. Thane, Sylas and River fit into this category. Particularly aggressive spellcasters and tricksters like Brun and Griotte can also pose an issue for Sana if they aren’t kept at range.
Sana’s Hero Ability is an incredible tool for win condition denial. It deters rot victories and pushes the Heroes who normally employ them to consider alternatives or take great risks. Use Sana when you are presented with Fang, 1 or more of the Dragon Clan Heroes or Heroes with low Body. If you’re facing more than 1 powerful fighter, Sana may struggle to navigate her aggressive rivals.
Sana’s Hero Ability
Priestess is a powerful Hero Ability, allowing Sana to use her Spirit instead of Fight when in combat with corrupted enemies. The King and banes are considered corrupt at all times, which allows Sana to face them in combat. This gives her access to prestige, rot and kingslayer victories that would have otherwise been out of reach. Thanks to her ability, Sana’s mere presence puts pressure on every player not to become corrupt.
Priestess and corruption make for a very dead King.
Heroes who normally wouldn’t mind packing on the rot, like Sargon and Nazar, will have to carefully reconsider their strategy if Sana is present. Heroes like Fang and Agniya, who rely on the rot in combat, will struggle greatly against Sana. There isn’t a lot of strategic play to be had with Priestess, but none is needed. Sana’s true power is reliably punishing any Hero that dares to become corrupted.
To add a little extra to this already exceptional ability, Sana’s spellcasting orientation allows her to reliably gain rot of her own. A corrupted Sana is an incredibly dangerous foe. A corrupted Sana still uses her Spirit against other corrupted creatures and can gain rot dice to boot. Cards like Plague and Dark Influence also allow Sana to force rot on her enemies, in some cases corrupting them before mounting her attack. Without a doubt, Priestess is among the best Hero Abilities in Armello, and Sana has all the resources to benefit from it.
Amulets
Because of Sana’s high starting Spirit, her ideal amulet is Think without a doubt. +1 Wits, and therefore hand size, is a powerful boost for a spellcaster in Armello. This is even more apparent with her maximum Wits being 5 before Think and 6 after. Holding 6 cards in hand as a spellcaster is a powerful boon. The strongest build for Sana will be one that amplifies her strengths while ignoring her weaknesses completely.
More cards in hand means more opportunities. This is the beauty of Think.
Unfortunately, that means there aren’t really any novelty amulets that are good for Sana. She is powerful but predictable. The Spell deck grants Sana the effects most Heroes would look to oddball amulets to grant. Simply taking Think and leaning into her high Spirit is better than compromising with a near-useless amulet.
The best amulet for Sana is Think. Other amulets can become pitfalls for new or idealistic players but give little or no benefit. No other amulet outclasses Think for Sana.
Rings
The premier ring for Sana is Amethyst, which grants +1 magic per Spell card burned and +2 magic per rot Spell card burned. Cycling through the cards in your hand is incredibly important for Sana, and this ring rewards you for doing so. Amethyst grants Sana a reason to hunt down banes and corrupted heroes. Not only do her burned cards lock dice into her combat shelf, but they also grant her magic with which to cast more spells. Using those Spells to bolster Sana in combat allows her to fight more, burn more cards and cast more spells. This synergy can be explosively powerful, especially for rot-oriented builds. Sana’s burned rot cards will explode if she becomes corrupted, further increasing the power of this ring.
Amethyst grants magic for every Spell card burned, so burn away!
Amber is similar, allowing burned sun and moon cards to always count as swords, and the first burned sun or moon explodes. Sana will be drawing a lot of sun and moon cards from the Spell deck, which makes this ring technically viable for her. Unfortunately, the payoff of swords in combat isn’t really helpful for a character with a 2 in Fight. Sana can’t go toe to toe with uncorrupted fighters or guards and relies on her Spirit when fighting corrupted creatures. Against her rivals, this ring is underwhelming, and against corrupted foes, it’s unnecessary. Sana has the tools in her box to handle corrupted enemies, but not uncorrupted ones. Only pick fights you’re sure you can win and avoid combat elsewhere.
Amethyst is the best ring for Sana, without exception. Amber may allow for slightly more consistency when cycling your hand, but Amethyst’s magic reward is simply stronger for a spellcaster.
Quest Selection
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Last but not least, quest selection. Sana’s Fight is too low to realistically use, and she is forced into using Spirit against the King and banes anyways. Sana’s Wits of 3 should be a higher priority, allowing her to draw into more Spell and Item cards to bolster her abilities and to burn cards in combat and perils. Wits quests are worth taking every chance you get. You should plan to raise Sana’s Wits to its maximum of 6 every game in order to enable her to cycle the cards in the Spell deck.
When it comes to your secondary stat investments, Body and Spirit are the ones to look towards. Taking a single Spirit quest gives Sana a total of 6. 6 magic each dusk allows her to play every card in the Spell deck innately. This is very valuable but not strictly necessary, thanks to the Amethyst ring. Every Spirit after 6 will give diminishing returns, but there is a case to be made for placing your last two points into Spirit to raise the score to 7. This expands your die pool in combat and Spirit perils while giving you extra magic at dusk. You could also choose to invest a single point in Body, raising it to 7 while still bringing your Spirit to 6. This helps your survivability while still allowing you to cast some hefty spells.
Sana Sets
Because of Sana’s min-max nature, her sets tend to build very similarly. For the most part, Sana uses the Think amulet and the Amethyst ring. When it comes to Sana, her strength is not diversity in builds but rather intense board pressure. Corrupted creatures become important resources to Sana, and knowing how to utilize them is her key to the kingdom.
Standard Sana
- Amulet: Think
- Ring: Amethyst
- Quests: 2 Wits, 1 Body, 1 Spirit
The most basic Sana, this build compromises between spellcasting and survivability. Raising Wits and accumulating the best equipment is key for this Sana set. 1 strong offensive equipment and 2 strong defensive equipment should be your priorities, as your Wits will allow you to burn in symbols while fighting corrupted Heroes. As a spellcaster, it’s a good idea to avoid confrontation early in the game. Try to stay out of the way of opposing Heroes when possible. If you stand in a predictable pathway, you could get pushed around or even killed.
If you suspect troublesome combat early, consider leveraging your Spell cards to help your would-be enemies and make yourself less of a target. Just be sure not to help them kill you off! You can also bolster your own combat abilities or burn down your enemies with Spells. Prevention is better than cure, so be ready to engage at a distance and keep yourself safe.
One set to rule them all.
This set has the standard Sana matchup, being strong against rot strategies, Heroes with low Body or Heroes with low Fight. This set struggles against Heroes with high Body and Fight, especially those who aren’t attempting a rot victory. Use this set when you’re confronted with frail Heroes who want to avoid combat, Heroes who want to become corrupted, or both. Consider another choice if faced with 2 or more powerful fighters or a board of aggressive tricksters and spellcasters.
Aggressive Sana
- Amulet: Think
- Ring: Amethyst
- Quests: 2 Wits, 2 Spirit
When the board is in your favor, this set provides the extra spellcasting support needed to finish out the games. Standard Sanas who find themselves in the lead can also opt to change routes and adopt this set and its tactics mid-game. The extra point in Spirit makes Sana even more formidable in combat, granting her an extra die. It also grants her 7 magic each dusk with which to cast Spell cards in the late game. Forgoing a point in Body does make Sana more susceptible to other spellcasters and tricksters, however.
Aggressive Sana’s HP and distance from other players needs to be carefully managed to keep her out of harm’s way. This ensures she can profit off corrupted creatures and keep herself safe from spellcasters and tricksters.
Be mindful of other Heroes who could threaten you. Spells can even reduce your dice pool to zero!
This Sana set further intensifies her matchups. It strengthens Sana against rot and is the ideal build if you’re certain your opponents want to reach corruption. The Dragon Clan Heroes and Fang are the true targets of aggressive Sana, but this set shines any time 2 or more Heroes border on corruption. Her reduced body, however, weakens her against the spells and trickery cards used by frail Heroes.
In Conclusion
What Sana lacks in depth of strategy, she makes up for with raw power. She is easy to play but hard to master and gives some of the most powerful Heroes in Armello a run for their money. While Sana still has weaknesses, and they tend to be severe, she can reach incredible heights when matchups are favorable. Sana is among the best spellcasters in Armello and is an excellent pick overall.
