Breaking Down the Deadliest Cores: Ares, Poseidon, Zeus

Wow, Game of War just took it to another level recently with the release of the Greek Gods triumvirate! One year ago we brought you the original article below.  We described Deadliest Core Sets as being Four Horsemen and a few other Cores which contained extra bonuses.  Oh my, how Game of War has changed in just one year…

The event which changed how Cores are used in Game of War could possibly be linked to the Set Research Tree.  With the Set Research Tree players are able to unlock and significantly boost their Core Set Bonuses.  Also, add to these set bonuses the increasingly more powerful core sets such as Ares, Poseidon, and Zeus and it becomes obvious why so many Rally Leaders choose these Game of War Recipe Core Sets over custom sets.

Let’s take a look at some of these sets in more detail:

Deadliest Cores: Zeus Core Set

Currently, Zeus is the dominant Infantry Missile Attack Core Set with moderate Defense Debuff.  The stats of Zeus before gems include:

• Infantry Attack: 2521%
• Troop Attack: 513%
• Defense Debuff: 596%
• Troop Attack Debuff: 596%
• Defense Bonus: 458%
• Health Bonus: 394%

Zeus Core Set Recipe

Deadliest Cores: Poseidon Core Set

Currently the Ranged Missile Core Set champion with 4,300% combined attack before gems and 420% plus set bonus of 550% or 970% Defense Debuff before gems with potentially 787.5%.  Defense Debuff should be close to 2,000% in the field with all boosts, gems, research and skills going.  This deadly ranged core set is making its mark on the Trap community.

Stats of Poseidon before Gems:

• Ranged Attack: 3300%
• Troop Attack: 1017%
• Health Debuff: 1433.26%
• Defense Debuff: 420%
• Defense Debuff Secret Full Set Bonus: 550%
• Troop Attack Debuff: 775%
• Cavalry Attack Debuff: 552%
• Defense Bonus: 1338%
• Health Bonus: 877%

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Poseidon Core Set Recipe

Deadliest Cores: Ares Core Set

Ares is the latest Cavalry Missile Core Set with tremendous power!

Ares Core Set Notable Stats with Gems for Defense Debuff:

• Cavalry Attack: 3780%
• Troop Attack: 1983%
• Combined Attack:  5,763%
• Infantry Attack Debuff: 610%
• Ranged Defense Debuff: 282%
• Defense Debuff: 1067%
• Full Set Defense Debuff Bonus: 644%
• Combined Ranged Defense Debuff: 1993%
• Health Debuff: 1461%

Ares Core Set Recipe

Thoughts on Core Set Selection

When considering which of the above core sets to use consider what happened to me last Kill Event.  Ares was recently released which is devastating in early tests but harder to obtain.  So, I figured I’d mostly see Poseidon over the weekend with some Ares popping up.  In updating my trap I trained mostly Infantry and Cavalry troops to counter Ares and Poseidon respectively.  Also, I upgraded my gear items to Rising Tekko’s which provide Defense to Infantry and Ranged Troops.  It is perfect against Ares and Poseidon.

First Rally to hit is Poseidon:

I was able to cap the hero with just a couple million T2 losses in my Normal Gear Rally Trap I use.

We did really well here but don’t get too excited because they forgot their hero…

Ok, now comes Ares Rally:

This time I do even better.  I got the reinforcements I need – Infantry and I get both boosts up Defense and Attack Debuff.  My trap focus of countering Ares is working!

I’m feeling pretty invincible at this point.  I’ve take Heroes from the hardest hitting Core Sets in Game of War!

Almost through the entire Kill Event at this point and I’ve yet to burn with over 1 Billion power destroyed.

Rally Notification pops up again and its on me!  I have no idea whats coming until it Marches.  Its Zeus…. Ha this should be great!

What the…. Dude burns me in Zeus cores.  How could this happen?  How could I have done so well against hard hitting Poseidon and even harder hitting Ares?  After some analysis I determine that my troop count and gear changes really set me up for a Zeus burn.  Lets take a look at the report:

Look at my Tier 4 Troops.  I only have approximately 10 million Ranged.  However, I have 18 million Cavalry and 25 million Infantry Tier 4.  So, it comes as no surprise looking at just these numbers why I’d done so well against Poseidon (counter with 18 million Tier Cavalry troops), and even better against Ares (counter 25 million Tier 4 Infantry troops).

However, when Zeus hit I only had 10 million Ranged Tier 4 to counter.  The Zeus rally was able to push further into my Tier 2 meat shield before they were killed by my Tier 4 Ranged troops.  Also, I didn’t bother to build Traps to slow Infantry troops AND I didn’t train many Tier 2 Ranged because I was afraid they would just add losses from Ares rallies.

Second issue is I focused too much on Infantry and Ranged Defense and neglected my Cavalry Defense having crafted only Golden Shogun items that boost Ranged and Infantry Defense.  So, when Zeus hit I only had 2800% combined Cavalry Defense when my other two troop types had 3680% combined Defense.  Ouch!

So, when choosing the Deadliest Core Set to use it may not always be best to chase the latest and greatest Core Set out.  Zeus, which is much older than the other two core sets was the best choice against my trap.  Bush took a chance and must have figured everyone was set up and expecting Ranged or Cavalry sets.  So, he was going to give them and, in this case, me, something to think about.

Get in the mind of the trap player.  What are they expecting?  Figure that out and give them the unexpected and enjoy the flames…

For historical purposes and comparison see the Deadliest Core article from May 2015 below:

Four Horsemen + 1 Bonus Core Recipe

There’s plenty of great cores to craft in the game right now, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people are putting far too much value in crafting a core with “extra” bonuses, when that is not always the best approach.

Which Cores Are Worth Crafting?

As if MZ didn’t make core strong enough on it’s own, they added special secret bonuses to a lot of core recipes if specific pieces are used. So, which ones are worth using and which ones aren’t is the question everyone is asking.

Let’s start with the older, but still effective cores.  The two I am referring to, are the asteroid and comet cores.  Most everyone knows about these two cores and that they give extra bonuses. These are best used as accessory core, especially if you are going for an all-around core set, instead of a troop specific core set.

Pro Tip: Where these two come in handy, is the new wonder point system in the new kvk scoring format.

We have done posts on these cores in the past and have the recipes for those here: Special Core Crafting Recipes

Here’s What’s New With Core Crafting

GoW released the new four horseman cores and they are awesome.

These cores are phenomenal for all around troop attack sets and the new pieces have some amazing debuff boosts.  I personally used these pieces in the last kvk and the debuffs make wonder battles extremely fun.  Lets look at what the new recipes can do.

The Four Horsemen Cores

There are 4 recipes. The higher the level of pieces the higher the level of bonuses. In this article we are using level 6 pieces.

Four Horsemen: Mutilation

 

Four Horsemen: Epidemic

Four Horsemen: Obliteration

Four Horsemen: Carnage

Four Horsemen: Armaggeddon (old but great)

To make the Armaggeddon core you need a Asteroid core . The combo is:

Bonus Training Recipe

To make the Piercing Helm core you need a piercing helm core . The combo is:

Fine Powder, Dragon King Scales, Metal Wire, Fiber Cushion, Gold Dust, Round Beads

Using these 6 with blue and purple pieces, you can expect a training boost around 22% for a total of around 65% total troop training speed.  Pretty solid little recipe, especially if you are going to be training troops on a massive scale.  Boost duration stinks though, on 31 minutes.  It does give you a bonus on trap defense, but I don’t think many will make this core for that boost.

Conclusion

There are roughly 40 bonus recipes for cores, but these in my opinion are the best.

The other bonus recipes are decent, but better cores can be made without the bonuses.

I am currently working on a follow up article to this one where I will be showing you specific examples of bonus recipes vs a custom made core and why I chose some custom cores over the bonuses.

Contributed by General Bow

Article 1: All Core Crafting Basics
Article 2: The Essential Core Crafting Strategies
Article 3: How to Craft Great Core Gear
Article 4: Crafting Cores with a Purpose
Article 5: Crafting Your First Core
Article 6: When to Take Chances While Crafting
Article 7: The Most Under Rated Core Gear
Article 8: The Best Core Gear You Can Craft
Article 9: The Deadliest Cores: Four Horsemen + 1 Bonus Core Recipe

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