Despite the Valor Series final taking place last weekend, this week hasn’t been a quiet one for Arena of Valor. Between the Mobile and Nintendo Switch versions, there’s plenty going on to keep people logging in and playing a few rounds.

And besides, the Valor Series Final aired shortly after our last weekly round-up, so there’s all that juicy eSports talk to get into today. Welcome to your 27th Arena of Valor Weekly Roundup!

Your Valor Series 2 Champions Are In!

After several months of weekly competition back-to-back, we finally know who are the best US Arena of Valor players around. Thing is, we already know them. They’ve already proven themselves earlier this year. Team Allegiance managed to take the trophy again this season to become two-time Valor Series champions, retaining the title they won during the original Valor Series final at E3 back in June.

But it wasn’t just a US title up for grabs. Splitting the competition by region, the Valor Series final in Sao Paulo last weekend was set up to find the best teams for each region to take to the International Championship in Vietnam in just a week’s time. For both Europe and Latin America, that meant Nova eSports. Nova had teams playing in both regions with each managing to prove themselves against the rest of their respective region’s most prolific players.

We have to congratulate them all, but the hype of the season certainly stemmed from the US final between Allegiance and Tribe Gaming. As documented in a previous round-up, the two teams became true rivals over the course of the event. Alliegance slapped Tribe down in their customary 3-0 sweep early in the competition, but Tribe Gaming came back later in the competition to deliver Allegiance’s first loss of the season.

Culminating in a final throw-down to decide which of the two teams would represent all of the US against the rest of the world, it was ultimately Allegiance who brought the fight back to Tribe. But it wasn’t as straight-forward as it seemed. Tribe backed Allegiance into a corner in the first round, suggesting a tense brawl for first place would play out over the weekend. Whether the pressure finally got to Tribe or Allegiance took a step back to reevaluate what was at stake, the champions of the Western Arena of Valor eSports scene pushed back to take Round 1, with Round 2 (and the series) falling neatly onto their lap soon after.

GG, Tribe Gaming. You showed us that Allegiance could take a hit, but we’re still waiting for a Western team to dethrone them. How they’ll fare against the International scene is anyone’s guess, but we’ll be able to catch the action on November 23. To recap the North America final, head on over to Facebook.

Ryoma and Lindis Enter The Nintendo Switch Arena

The steady pace of heroes hitting Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition hasn’t let up yet, with two new heroes landing just a week apart from each other. Following on from the release of Ryoma last Saturday, Lindis is set to enter the arena sometime tomorrow.

With Ryoma’s reveal only coming well into Friday last week, it proved impossible to mention the roaming ronin during Roundup #26. Now that he’s here, we have a few quick pointers to dish out when fighting with or against the classic hero.

Ryoma excels as a Jungler for the most part, but can lane with the best of them when needed. His naginata awards him a slightly above average attack range for a melee hero, with moves like Pinwheel allowing for greater mobility than you might otherwise expect. With a well-executed combo, Ryoma can leap into battle with Pinwheel, stun with Wailing Blade, and deliver a potentially fatal flurry with Spectral Ire, though the impeccable precision needed to pull it off can create many opportunities for opponents to strike back.

As for Lindis, who arrives in the arena tomorrow (Saturday, November 17), her role is slightly more divisive. Gaining exception movement speed by weaving through the brush, this ranged hero can auto-attack with the best of them. But it’s her ability to leave invisible traps across the map that leads her to be played slightly less aggressively in the field. Rather than hinting down targets from clear sight, Lindis pitches in with the team effort by placing traps in strategic locations to block or arm the opposing team’s escape route. Whether your team lures their targets into them or rely on them for security is a reason for some real synergy.

Elsu Finally Arrives!

We’ve been talking about Elsu for weeks now, so we’re going to keep this one brief. After a tentative November 16th launch window, we can confirm that Elsu stuck to his word. The ranged hero set to shake up the meta is now officially available, and those who managed to earn the character through a Xeniel’s Codex reward will be able to select the hero once more. Before a hotfix patched out the issue, players were able to unlock and play the then-unreleased hero through the Xeniel’s Codex feature.

Just before the hotfix came into effect, Reddit users reported a bug which zoomed the in-game camera out to a near bird’s-eye view of the battlefield through bot/custom matches. While certainly speculation at best, it’s possible that the bug in question is what caused the Elsu release delay in the first place.

With Elsu finally available, players who haven’t been able to secure the new hero through the codex are free to pick him up with Gold or Vouchers through the in-game store. To learn of his toolset, check out the hero spotlight video above.

New Batman/Lauriel Skins Offer Contrasting Colors

And last but certainly not least, Batman and Lauriel players were treated to some special new skins this week – though one of them won’t be sticking around much longer.

It’s been a while since a DC skin showed up in the game, and the Hellbat suit is one heck of a fine choice to bridge that gap. Based on the suit from a 2014 issue of Batman & Robin, the Hellbat suit the skin is based on was originally conceived to aid the mortal Bruce Wayne in his battles against his increasingly superhuman enemies. You won’t be getting any kind of hero buffs by donning the Hellbat skin in-game, but it’s a cool skin to have none-the-less. Just be quick; Hellbat Batman is only available until Tuesday, November 20.

As for Lauriel, the Divine Grace skin comes right off the back of her Halloween Scream ensemble – a returning favorite from last year’s event. This new skin follows in the footsteps of other premium skins this year in that it even includes an impressive preview window animation on the skin select screen. With just how much Lauriel darts around during her combo, expect to see a plethora of new spell effects and sounds going off whenever you go against this unpredictable champion.