AFK Journey is amazing so far and quite generous when it comes to unlocking new heroes for you to progress through campaign, Dream Realm and other game modes that will give quite a bunch of rewards to continue building your teams. Like already stated in my best hero tier list for AFK Journey here, the heroes and mechanics are somewhat different if you come from playing AFK Arena before so this guide is meant to help you build your core teams for the different modes.
The Main Things When Building A Team in AFK Journey
I know many players love to go for the faction and team bonus for the 10 or 15% stat improvement – but let me tell you right away that you are better off using heroes that are great than using less effective heroes and get them some extra stats in AFK Journey!
If we exclude a couple of funky stages you always will aim to build your team with one tank that keeps enemy lines busy while your other heroes load their ults (the only exception here is the Crystal Defense stages where often 2 tanks are better), one healer that will heal your tank and other team members and one strong area damage dealer. Then you can add other support heroes, single-target damage dealers.
That all in mind, I have below some main team setups that you will love:
Best Campaign / AFK Journey Teams in AFK Journey
Processing through AFk Reward stages and the Story Campaign give plenty of rewards and there are almost no funky stages so this comes to a strong main team to have and keeping your hero levels and equipment as high as possible to beat them.
The best core team here right now is:
Thoran is the best tank for that as he can revive and deals a ton of damage himself. Cecia in the back is a mighty carry as she deals a ton of damage and summons her off-tank. You get her for free and evolving her is quite easy early on and she will carry you a long time with her damage. Rowan should be your center-position hero that not only heals on emergency and is often enough able to keep your team alive, he also boosts energy with his ultimate and let your other heroes fire their ultimate more often. Lyca is a great in combination with Cecia and deals great damage and provides support for your damage dealers and as at the start we all get a couple copies of Vala I recommend her as well as she burst enemies. Please mind here, her ultimate is randomly ranged or close-up battle so sometimes you have to run a stage a couple of times if she jumps into her on death with her ultimate.
Possible Replacement:
- Thoran: if you didn’t pull Thoran early, you can also use Brutus instead. He is not that great of a damage dealer but her survives a fatal blast with his invincibility once so he can hold the frontline as well. If none of them are available you can use Lucius with his shielding but replace him with Thoran or Brutus as quickly as possible as he is more the second tank for stages where you need a second tank and should never be your main tank in most modes.
- Rowan: is incredibly strong and you really need him, even if you only have one copy of him. If not, you can also use Smokey (they also work together) or Hewynn as healer. You have to have at least one hero in your lineup that can somewhat heal
- Cecia: is a hero you get for free when you start so you have her and should run her. You can use Viperion as well as he deals quite some damage as well but I would never recommend to not use Cecia in any lineup here.
Situational Swap-Ins:
- Silvina can be useful if you deal with an enemy backline hero that does too much support so you can snipe that hero down with her. She often dies in the process but sometimes it’s worth it
- Antandra can be a good off-tank along your main tank as she also deals quite some damage and is more flexible
Best Dream Realm Teams in AFK Journey
In Dream Realms you fight a boss with unique abilities every day to gain Dream Fragments that you can use to buy hero copies. Scoring well here is important and every boss has quite some unique abilities that require you to use certain heroes.
Best Team Against Skyclops
Skyclops requires you to have some AoE damage in your team as he will summon his minions that you have to get rid of quickly and there are multiple teams you can use:
This is the best team to use against Skyclops that deals with the summons and deals enough damage to get through the stages and is able to stay alive long enough to deal the damage
And here is the exact way to set up the formation and what artifact spell you should use:
Scarlita in this composition absolutely needs her EX+10, this will let her knock out the summons right away so your other heroes don’t have to deal with them. This is the MAIN REASON why she is in this team setup so if you don’t have her at that level, use a different of the recommenden teams. Marilee should be Mythic+ and have her EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Reinier works with lower ascension but in terms of fulfilling his role here, should be Mythic+ and have EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Smokey and Meerky should be Mythic+ and have their EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Korin should be Mythic+ and have their EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Starshard Artifact as you have more than enough healing in this team, the Starshard Spell artifact deleivers a nice bunch of reliable true damage output that helps here the most for the best highscore.
Best Team Against King Croaker
King Croaker has two annoying abilities – one is his energy shield that will reduce the damage he takes. At this point you need to make a ton of DPS to even scratch him and with his magic bubble he instantly kills one of your heroes.
This is the best tem against King Croaker right now and also quite accessible if you invest your Guild Coins into Reinier
And here is the exact way to set up the formation and what artifact spell you should use:
Thoran is absolutely core here since he can survive the first fatal blow and revive. No other hero can do that and he is used in any team against King Croaker and should be ideally Mythic+ and also have his EX+5 But also without you need him here. Korin should be at Mythic+ and ideally also have his EX+5 to work well here. Smokey and Meerky are you healer here to keep alive and ideally should be Mythic+ and have EX+5 as well. Marilee should be Mythic+ and have her EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Reinier can be used at any awakening but ideally with his Hero Focus and EX he is working a lot better. Still, even with only one copy viable enough to run him. Starshard Artifact will deal damage here and contribute well. You have enough healing in this setup to focus your artifact on damage.
Best Team Against Necrodrakon
With the ground aura you need a team with heroes that change their position frequently to stand a real chance against him.
The best team right now against Necrodrakon with heroes that change their stance all the time while dealing good damage and stay alive
And here is the exact way to set up the formation and what artifact spell you should use:
Kruger is very important not just for his variablility as tank but also for enhancing the damage all other heroes in your team deal. He should be at least mythic+ and ideally his EX+5 should also be unlocked. Temesia is great for her flexible positioning so the damage aura will hit her as little as possible and she has some self-sustain. You want her ideally at Supreme+ and with her EX+5, but you can also run her lower than that. Korin should be Mythic+ and have EX+5 as well. Marilee should be Mythic+ and have her EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Starshard Artifact will deal damage here and contribute well. You have enough healing in this setup to focus your artifact on damage. Reinier can be used at any awakening but ideally with his Hero Focus and EX he is working a lot better. Still, even with only one copy viable enough to run him.
Best Team Against Snow Stomper
The annoying part about Snow Stomper is that he will silence your heroes for a lot of time so they can’t use their ultimate so you want to run heroes that also deal good damage with their regular attacks + he will freeze one of your top attackers at times.
This is the best team against Snow Stomper right now and the heroes needed are actually also quite accessible – although you need some heavy invest into Cassadee
And here is the exact way to set up the formation and what artifact spell you should use:
Korin should be Mythic+ and have their EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Reinier works with lower ascension but in terms of fulfilling his role here. Cassadee is key in this setup but you need to have her at Supreme+ and have her EX+10 to gain her buffs that make your team deal significant more damage and also deal with the minions of Skyclops well enough. Odie should be Mythic+ and have his EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Marilee should be Mythic+ and have her EX+5 (or at least somewhere close to that). Blazing Artifact is the best artifact here as your biggest struggle is getting your damage in with the silencing that Snow Stomper applies and Blazing Spell hellps dealing damage to him or the controlled ally.
