Life is about proving our worth. In the Illuvium universe, the place to prove your worth is none other than Illuvium Arena, an auto battler where players battle each other with Illuvials caught during their journey. The Private Beta 2 testing phase opened on 26 September 2022 and will run for as long as required with the Survival Arena being the only available game mode. If you can survive the Survival Arena, you are worthy of the Ascendant and Leviathan arenas, both of which are set to be available when Illuvium Arena is fully launched.

Illuvium Arena Private Beta (Source: Illuvium.io)

There are three Arenas in Illuvium Arena though only the Player-vs-Environment (PVE) mode of Survival Arena will be available during the Private Beta 2 testing phase.

• Survival Arena

In the Survival Arena, the G4udi autonomous trainer drone has gone haywire and will take down players rather than train them. As you find yourself facing a seemingly endless onslaught of increasingly powerful Illuvials, you would need to build a team to make it out of the Survival Arena alive. For all its dangers and challenges, the Survival Arena with its player-versus-environment (PvE) features is merely a tutorial that provides you with a taste of what’s to come.

• Ascendant Arena

When it's available, the Ascendant Arena would be the premium esport game mode of Illuvium Arena. As the mid-tier Arena that stands between the Survival Arena and the Leviathan Arena, the Ascendant Arena is where you can literally ascend the leaderboard by climbing the ladder. You would face-off against your peers who are at the same level on the ladder. The only way to climb the ladder is for you to prove that you are worth your place at the higher rungs by winning matches against your peers. In addition to experience levels, the other skill-based element in Ascendant Arena is Illuvial points which are the costs associated with the deployment of Illuvials in battles. It's a slug fest, and only the strongest would make it to the top of the ladder in order to qualify for entry to the Leviathan Arena.

• Leviathan Arena

The Leviathan Arena is built for the big boys heavy hitters. To use an analogy with the Roman Empire, the Leviathan Arena is akin to the Colosseum where legendary gladiators fight it out, tooth and nail. The Leviathan Arena is the place where the most epic teams imaginable look to assert their dominance. These creme de la creme (best of the best) of fighters take no prisoners as they battle it out to prove their worth as the alphas of gladiators.

A testament to the no-holds barred combat mode of the Leviathan Arena is the fact that battles in the Arena are unhindered by factors such as experience levels of players and Illuvial points (costs associated with the deployment of Illuvials) that exist in the Ascendant Arena. Instead, the mode of engagement in the Leviathan Arena is that of an all-out, free-for-all Herculean warfare. In true embodiment of the gladiator spirit of times gone by, spectators can wager on the outcome of matches in the Leviathan Arena. In the heat of some of the raging battles in the Leviathan Arena, you may soon find that all bets are off.

Preparing for Battle in Illuvium Arena (Source: Medium.com/@Rhamphy)

The path to becoming the Gladiator of Illuvium Arena is an arduous one. With the introduction of checkpoint restore function, your path has become slightly easier as you will not lose all your progress when you fall in battles. Still, you would need to prove your worth as the Gladiator of Illuvium Arena by optimizing your strategies to remain as the last one standing in the Survival Arena.

• Optimizing the Synergies

In the Survival Arena, you have a choice of 8 Illuvials from a randomly generated deck. In choosing their Illuvials, you must identify the Illuvials which have high damage per second (DPS) rates and good defensive stats. In line with Illuvium’s Interoperable Blockchain Game (IBG) system, the Illuvials that you managed to capture in Illuvium Overworld can be used for battles in Illuvial Arena. This increases your choices as to which Illuvials to use to survive the waves of attacks by enemy Illuvials in the Survival Arena.

Besides attacking and defensive capabilities, another key consideration is the primary affinities of Illuvials. For example, if you are looking to build Fire Synergy, you would need to choose Illuvials from the Fire class (Illuvials that have Fire affinity). The resulting primary Fire Synergy buff would increase the DPS of the other Illuvials in the your carry unit. The primary Synergy which is based on the affinities of Illuvials can be complemented by composite Synergy that is based on your choice of weapons and armor.

The considerations for attaining composite Synergy are similar to those for the attaining of primary Synergy. You should choose weapons and armor which characteristics complement the primary Synergy of your Illuvials. An example is where if your Illuvials has primary Earth Synergy, you should choose Earth-based items such as Earth Gauntlet to attain composite Synergy.

Optimizing Synergies (Source: Avocado DAO)

• Optimizing the Use of Return Points

In the Survival Arena, you have 2 Return Points per wave that can be used to recall Illuvials from the Arena during battles. You should base your decision as to when to use your 2 Return Points for each wave based on the relationship of the Synergies between your Illuvials and those of the enemy Illuvials. For example, if your Illuvials are mainly of Fire affinities (primary Fire Synergy) and complemented by Illuvials of Air affinities (secondary Air Synergy), whereas the primary Synergy of the enemy Illuvials is that of Water, this is an opportune time for you to use Return Points.

This is because based on the game’s affinities system, Fire Illuvials are weak against Water Illuvials which in turn are weak against Air Illuvials. More information about this affinities system can be found in our core article on Illuvium. In order to boost your chances of surviving a wave, you can use your Return Points to recall your Fire Illuvials before replacing them with Air Illuvials as the latter would be able to dispense attacks at higher DPS rates against the enemy Water Illuvials.

Illuvium's Affinities System (Source: BeansTalk.io)

• Optimizing the Use of Mastery Points

In the Survival Arena, you would receive Mastery Points for each wave that you manage to survive. The optimal use of Mastery Points could make a key difference to your chances of surviving the next wave. If you feel that the Illuvials you have in your carry unit are insufficient, you can use your Mastery Points to shore up your team by acquiring additional Illuvials. Alternatively, you can choose instead to use your Mastery Points to equip your Illuvials with Augments.

The function of Augments is to modify the purpose and behaviour of Illuvials. Each Illuvial can have up to 2 Augments which enable the Illuvial to deploy special attacks. For example, an Illuvial which is equipped with the Augment of Exalted Vampiric Price would be able to deploy the special attack of Exalted Vengeful Smile.

Deploying Exacted Vengeful Smile (Source: Avocado DAO)

• Optimizing the Use of Hyper Attack Mode

In the Survival Arena, you can boost your chances of surviving a wave by unleashing the Hyper Attack mode of your Illuvials. Under the Hyper Attack mode, your Illuvials would go into a frenzied, almost berserk-like state, in which they would be able to dispense special attacks with high DPS rates. When your Illuvials are faced with their favourite opponents, the Illuvials would enter into the Hyper Attack mode.

The favourite opponents of your Illuvials would depend on the the affinities of these Illuvials and those of their opponents. For example, based on the game’s affinities system, Fire Illuvials are strong against Nature and Air Illuvials. Accordingly, you should position your Fire Illuvials against the enemy Nature and Air Illuvials. This would enable your Fire Illuvials to unleash their Hyper Attack mode and dispense special attacks with high DPS rates against these enemy Illuvials.

Fire Illuvial's Hyper Attack Mode (Source: CoinBureau.com)

Illuvium Overworld is playable on both Windows and Mac devices. The first step is to go to the official Illuvium website and sign up for an account before registering for beta access. According to illuvium, some of the factors which they would take into account for their beta tester selection process include but are not limited to “completeness of registration information and system specifications”. Those who are selected to be beta testers would receive an invitation email. The next step is to go to the official Illuvium website and select Illuvium Arena.

Selecting Illuvium Arena (Source: Illuvium.io)

Next, you would need to click download the Illuvium Arena game client which is the same as that of Illuvium Overworld for the purposes of beta testing .

Downloading Illuvium Arena (Source: Illuvium.io)

After downloading the Illuvium Arena game client, you can proceed to launch the client and login using their Illuvium.io credentials to start playing.

Illuvium Arena Login Interface (Source: Illuvium.io)

As the third game mode in the Illuvium ecosystem, Illuvim Arena brings players in the ecosystem together for full on combat to prove their worth. In your quest to be the supreme gladiator of the Illuvium Arena, you can have recourse to other games in the Illuvium ecosystem. As part of Illuvium's IBG system, the Blueprints generated in Illuvium Zero can be used for the crafting of skins in Illuvium Arena, and as previously mentioned, the Illuvials captured in Illuvium Overworld can be used for battles in Illuvium Arena.

The key element that weaves a unifying thread through the components of Illuvium ecosystem is Illuvitars which doubles up as your profile picture (PFP) NFT. Hop on to the next and last course of this module, To Infinity and Beyond with Illuvium Beyond to learn more about how the game brings to life the functions of Illuvitars as the central tenet of Illuvium’s IBG system.