I started to play RAID some month ago, so I am not an experienced player. However, I know what mistakes I have done at the beginning (three abandoned games, three continued ones) and I would like to confront my thoughts with more experienced players.

The first decision is your initial, rare champion.

Most players seem to prefer Athel and she seems to be really good - a good AoE attack (for mobs), regular three times attack with a debuff (for bosses) and a nice buff with a possibility to attack in the same round.

My first choice was Kael but I did not like him - however, he may pay off in a long battle (damage over time).

My second choice was Elhain. Two AoE attacks (one very good one, one a poor one but strong against one target) help in the beginning but she is not the best choice against bosses.

I have never really tried Galek, His skills seem to be similar to Kael's ones but they are single hit ones, not damage over time. I have found him dangerous in Arena battles - if I did not take him in the first round, sometimes he was able to kill all my team in one blow.

The next thing necessary to know are milestones. The first milestone is to upgrade your initial hero to 4 stars. Not a difficult task - just lead your first two uncommon champions (plus an extra one) to level 20, upgrade them to 3 stars (you need to consume 6 fresh 2-star champions, I would not recomend to consume any rare champion) and you may upgrade your level 30 champion to 4 stars. If you are lucky enough to get an extra epic (4-star) champion (e.g. from a shard), you are ready to beat most of campaigns at Normal with three stars (one or two champions, no losses).

In the meantime you should look for a good AoE attacker (a champion with a good regular AoE attack). The easiest one to get is Sister Militant. However, she is a common champion. I would suggest to get 5 of them and bring all of them to 4 stars, level 40. Among uncommon champions you have Saurus and Zephyr Sniper. Zephyr Sniper is not a good damage dealer (this is a support champion) but Saurus seems to be one of THE best AoE attackers. If you are not lucky enough to get one early (from a shard or the Marketplace), you may get him free from a later campaign (IIRC 10). If you do not get a good AoE rare champion, Saurus should become your main damage dealer. Just equip him with 4 good pieces of the Life Steal set, 2 good pieces of the Speed set (%Attack, Attack, Crit. Strike, Resistance, Speed, maybe some HP or Defence), upgrade them as much as possible and voila.

When your champions hit level 40, upgrade only one of them to 5 stars. I think it should be your main AoE attacker (perhaps Saurus). This requires to consume 4 other 4-star champions and you should not use any Epic champion for this (well... maybe if you REALLY dislike him). Use upgraded Uncommon or Rare champions instead.

The next milestone is to pass your main damage dealer to 6 stars (I have not done it yet). You need 5 5-star champions to do that and this is the task for your 5 level 40 Sisters Militant (or maybe 4 Sisters and one extra Saurus/Zephyr Sniper and so on). 5 5-star chickens would be the best but I think it would be necessary to invest some big, real money to get them at this stage of the game. Just get 20 4-star fresh champions (upgrade them from Uncommon or Rare ones!), sacrifice them to get 5 fresh 5-star champions and now your level 50 champion may be upgraded to 6 stars. Now things should become easier, because a 6-star 60th level AoE farmer is much more effective than a 5-star 50th level one.

To do this, you should effectively manage your Energy (try not to waste it and minimize defeats - just pick the fights with the best XP to Energy ratio). And please remember: Missions, Quests, Challenges, Events etc. are your friends. Some of them may seem a waste of time and Energy ("Get %Attack Gauntlets from the Kaerok Castle stage blahblahblah") but they lead you to more profitable ones.

S.