With another new hero being released today, there isn’t a massive amount to talk about in our Arena of Valor weekly roundup other than a new skin and an interesting Japanese AoV commercial.
Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. There’s a little more to this week than just what was mentioned above – like an entirely new hero landing on the test server. He likes to eat things, and he doesn’t really care what – or who – goes into his massive mouth.
D’arcy – The Archmagus – Warps In
Almost two months have passed since D’arcy’s handsome portrait was plastered onto the Arena of Valor Instragram page. It’s one of the reasons we don’t look to that particular social media channel for news of imminent releases. But after the lengthy wait and the arrival of Veres two weeks ago, the man of magic has finally teleported into Athanor. I say teleported because that’s exactly what D’arcy spends most of the match doing.
D’arcy is a new and powerful control mage that you’ll want to read up about before going up against. As usual, expect the magician to fall victim to many pick/ban phases over the next week or two until the community can devise a definiate way to counter him, though the verdict is still out on whether he’s a true threat or not.
Channeling the power of dimensions, D’arcy charges up his energy resource by landing normal attacks and abilities, gaining increased speed, mana, and upgraded versions of his main two abilities once he’s landed enough hits. At this point, he’ll go all out on attacks, refreshing the cooldown on his main two abilities and tossing out an timed AOE dimensional cube for some impressive damage while his initial ability considerably slows down his target. Then it’s all about his ultimate, which allows D’arcy to either teleport to his enemies, or pull them back to their original position in the blink of an eye.
He’s all about manipulating the figurative chessboard and will likely aim to drop a number of AOE blasts on as many victims as possible. Available for 18,888 Gold or the timed discounted price of 999 vouchers, he’s one to watch out for.
Japan’s New AoV Commercial Channels Stereotypes
It’s been a few months now since Arena of Valor officially launched in Japan. We don’t really know how well it’s doing, but a recently released 3-minute long commercial suggests Tencent is already putting more effort into advertising the game in the region than basically anywhere in the West at this point.
Posted by Reddit user NeuroseX, who described the lengthy TV spot as “literally an entire anime plot with stereotypical characters", it’s probably not far from the truth.
I’m not even going to attempt to figure out what’s being said as there are no subtitles to speak of, but just a quick glance at the video does remind me a little of the types of characters you tend to see on a Japanese panel show. Again, I’m not sure what exactly is going on here, but a barista seems to get pulled into a round of Arena of Valor by a table of disgruntled customers. Things don’t go so well for the new player, leading the rest of the party to explain how to play by illustrating his various beginner mistakes.
I called this a TV spot, but there’s probably a good chance this was made for YouTube just like those somewhat distasteful live-action videos from the English Arena of Valor YouTube channel a while back.
Pippi Balloons Into The Support Role
After a barrage of powerful human character reveals over the last few months, a chunky little demon furball has graced the test server with its presence. Currently referred to as Pippi, League of Legends players have already branded it the Tahm-Kench of AoV – though others will see more than a passing resemblance to Kirby when they see what this little critter can do.
Initially demonstrated through a suicide run (or roll) clip in a video by YouTuber HEX, there’s a reason Pippi can balloon into a boulder and roll through the enemy base with easy. He’s a Support character designed to attack from range and use his stretchy body to gobble up single targets. And it doesn’t matter whether they’re enemies or allies, either. Heck, Pippi can even inhale jungle monsters like the colored golems. Why, you ask? There’s a bunch of different reasons.
Pippi can inhale low HP allies to protect them from further harm or maybe even bring powerful teammates behind enemy lines. He can use his gullet to exclude a problematic enemy from a team fight, or even gobble up a jungle monster to deny the opposite team a powerful buff. And thanks to his ult, in which his ballooned state allows him to roll across the battlefield with ease, Pippi can execute near endless attack or rescue missions.
Don’t expect to see him on battlefield anytime soon, though. We’re waiting on many more previously announced heroes before this game-changing ball of blubber rolls on in.
School’s Out For Krixi
And to close things off, this weekend is your one and only chance to pick up another piece of content teased on Instagram many months before its official release.
After more than two months on the waiting list, Krixi’s school uniform has finally come back from the fitters. Available now until Monday for around 750 vouchers if you already own the magical pixie, the “School Skipper Krixi" skin is Tencent’s next step in putting Arena of Valor’s original poster power women into objectively cuter outfits. Though they didn’t go so far as to record new voice lines for the occasion.
