Familiars deliver a powerful punch in a battle if used correctly, but awakening them is a lengthy process & can be quite costly. A lot of people waste their hard earned orbs early in the game on awakening familiars that are not so useful later on. Knowing the best familiars to awaken & upgrade in Lords Mobile, will help you upgrade your battle stats much quicker.
This article will guide you through the best familiar army talents to focus on and prioritize, taking into account their attack boost as well as the cost to upgrade them. I have also given a breakdown of the orbs required to awaken the different familiars.
If you are looking for the overall best familiars to use for battle, here are 2 articles you might find useful :
- Top Familiars to use for Attack
- Top Wall Defense Familiars
Best Familiars to Awaken
Since familiars are fairly costly to awaken, I recommend picking out your final lineup early in the game depending on your game goals / spending capacity and only working on those familiars. While it may be tempting to use your orbs on lower level familiars to get an immediate boost, you would get a much better return in the long term by focusing on the stronger familiars.
Below are my recommendations for which familiars to upgrade based upon how powerful they are vs their relative cost.
1. Pact 5 Familiars
The 6 paid familiars – Bon Appeti, Blackwing, Gargantua, Huey Hops, Queen Bee, Frostwing – hit the hardest in the game. All of them target the enemies largest squad i.e. in most cases the enemy backline. This makes your hit amazingly powerful even if you are countered. They are the best familiars in the game so far, dealing a huge amount of damage and are definitely at the top of the list.
2. Jade Wyrm
The newly added familiar Jade Wyrm reduces the damage inflicted on your troops. This lets your troops fight for longer and hence they inflict more damage to the enemy. This familiar also has a synergistic effect with other shield familiars i.e. hoarder, snow beast and saberfang. Thus Jade Wyrm is a great addition to your lineup.
3. Stackable Familiars
The stackable familiars are a must have for attack. They give a permanent attack boost which keeps increasing throughout the battle, sometimes even going up to 500%-600% which can turn the tide of the battle. They are also not as costly as Pact 4 & Pact 5 familiars to max out and deliver great value for their cost.
4. Gryphon
Gryphon is also an amazing familiar since it gives a 200% attack boost to the whole army for 10 secs. Although slightly more costly to awaken, it can be used for all three troop types and definitely delivers in terms of value.
5. Hell Drider
Hell Drider petrifies one of the enemy’s largest squad for 11 secs. The usefulness of this familiar depends a lot on where you want to use it. It’s not very useful for hitting a mix troop comp, since in this case, it will affect only a small portion of the enemy troops. However, it is very useful against a blast as it will freeze a very large portion of the enemy troops. In general, it may be a good option to use for defence, as well as for defending certain types of rallies in wonder battles, but may not be so useful for attacking.
6. Tempestite
Tempestite stuns the largest enemy squad for 8 secs. This makes it great for defending against single troop type attacks, since it will essentially stun 1/4th of the attacking army. It also works fairly well while attacking and is overall an amazing familiar, especially because of it’s low cost compared to other familiars, giving the most bang for your buck. If you are planning to awaken just 1 or 2 familiars, tempestite should definitely be on the top of your list.
7. Mega Maggot
Mega Maggot stuns all enemy heroes for 5 secs after 15% of your troops have fallen. It’s great for hitting mixed troops especially in castles because all 5 heroes are into play in those cases and will get stunned. Although this is a decent talent in terms of effectiveness, the cost of upgrading mega maggot is relatively high for the boost it provides, hence it’s slightly lower on the list. If you are planning on getting all Pact 4 & Pact 5 familiars, it may be best to skip this one.
8. Shield Summoning Familiars
These familiars summon a shield that protects a portion of your army from dying and lets them fight for longer essentially increasing the damage that you deal. Although these Pact 4 familiars are among the top familiars in battle, they are very difficult and costly to upgrade for the boost they provide, hence placed lower on the list.
9. HP Buff/Debuff familiars
Evil Weevil increases your army HP by 15%. Aquiris reduces the enemy’s Army HP by 15%. When used together, these familiars create a 30% HP gap. Although a 30% HP boost doesn’t seem as powerful as the other familiars, the advantage is that the skill triggers at the beginning of the battle and boosts your whole army’s HP, making them great options for wall defense. Also they are fairly cheap to upgrade.
10. Pyris
Pyris is not among the most powerful familiars, but it is really easy to upgrade. Since it also works with all troop types, it’s a good option in the earlier stages of the game, but overall your orbs could be better used elsewhere.
If you have opened just 3 or 4 familiar slots, there are better familiars to use and you should not upgrade pyris. However, if you have opened all 5 familiar slots, you are most likely also working towards pact 5 familiars, so it may be useful is as a temporary filler until those are unlocked.
11. ATK + HP Familiars
The 3 newly added familiars give a 60% boost in ATK & HP for a troop type for 15 secs, after 5% troops of one type have fallen. They are not the best familiars for attack or defence, however, they are decent & relatively cheaper option to have for the early stages of the game, or if you never plan on upgrading the other familiars.
12. ATK Boosting Familiars
These familiars give a 15% ATK boost for a single troop type at the start of battle. This skill is fairly useful in battle and also doesn’t cost a lot to upgrade. These are good familiars to have in the early stages of the game, however your orbs could be much better used for upgrading the more powerful familiars like the tempestite or the stacking ones. Wouldn’t recommend upgrading these.
12. Other HP & Defense Familiars
The remaining familiars which boost troop type HP, or give defense stats are not worth upgrading.
Talent Orbs and Familiar Awakening Cost
To awaken a familiar you first need to get it to elder stage and then upgrade the army talents using orbs. There are 2 types of orbs, Bright Orbs, which are used for awakening rarity 1-3 familiars and Brilliant Orbs, used for rarity 4-5 familiars.
Talent orbs are available for purchase in the gem mall, but are extremely costly. There are packs available which may be a better value.
Below is a breakdown of the number of orbs needed and cost of awakening the familiars by their rarity.
Bright Talent Orbs [Rarity 1-3 Familiars]
Bright Talent Orbs are relatively cheaper compared to Brilliant orbs, and you can get 50 of them for $5 from A Night of Mystery pack. See number of bright orbs needed for rarity 1-3 familiars below.
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Price | Gems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | 20 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 31 | 45 | 200 | $20 | 600K |
| R2 | 40 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 37 | 48 | 94 | 90 | 400 | $40 | 1.2M |
| R3 | 80 | 36 | 43 | 50 | 57 | 64 | 72 | 94 | 123 | 181 | 800 | $80 | 2.4M |
| Level | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 1 | 20 | 40 | 80 |
| 2 | 9 | 18 | 36 |
| 3 | 10 | 21 | 43 |
| 4 | 12 | 24 | 50 |
| 5 | 14 | 28 | 57 |
| 6 | 16 | 32 | 64 |
| 7 | 19 | 37 | 72 |
| 8 | 24 | 48 | 94 |
| 9 | 31 | 62 | 123 |
| 10 | 45 | 90 | 181 |
| Total | 200 | 400 | 800 |
| Price | $20 | $40 | $80 |
| Gems | 600K | 1.2M | 2.4M |
Brilliant Talent Orbs [Rarity 4-5 Familiars]
Brilliant Talent orbs can be purchased from Strike a Deal pack and you can get 50 of them for $10. See number of brilliant orbs needed for rarity 4-5 familiars below.
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Price | Gems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R4 | 64 | 29 | 34 | 39 | 45 | 51 | 58 | 76 | 99 | 145 | 640 | $128 | 4.8M |
| R5 | 160 | 72 | 86 | 100 | 114 | 129 | 144 | 188 | 246 | 361 | 1600 | $320 | 12M |
| Level | R4 | R5 |
| 1 | 64 | 160 |
| 2 | 29 | 72 |
| 3 | 34 | 86 |
| 4 | 39 | 100 |
| 5 | 45 | 114 |
| 6 | 51 | 129 |
| 7 | 58 | 144 |
| 8 | 76 | 188 |
| 9 | 99 | 246 |
| 10 | 145 | 361 |
| Total | 640 | 1600 |
| Price | $128 | $320 |
| Gems | 4.8M | 12M |
Ending Notes
The 6 Pact 5 familiars which are paid, are the most powerful in battle. In addition the stacking familiars are must haves. Apart from those those you should plan out and selectively upgrade the familiar army talents based on what you want from the game.
What familiars are you working on? Please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below.
