Lava 3 Hero Leveling Recommendations

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Here are my leveling recommendations for lava 3 players. The intended audience for this page is players that are new to lava 3 or aspire to some day do lava 3. I'm writing this with a bias toward spots 1, 2 and 3. The reason why is because traditionally, spot 3 is the easiest spot to fill and spots 1 and 2 require significantly strong players. Spot 4 is reserved for very strong players that own a devo Grim or Arctica. Since I don't qualify for that spot myself (no Grim for me, sadly), I have less to say about that spot.

Also, so I don't repeat myself, it should go without saying that all heroes must have a minimum of level 80 inscriptions. Your more important heroes realistically should be all 90+.

Getting started? Aim for spot 3

Minimum recommendations:

Ice demon, level 160, 7/10 skill, 3/5 revite or better, Celestin pet. Due to ice demon's placement, he is rarely in danger of being killed.
PK, evolved, level 160, skill level is irrelevant (due to damage caps), revive crests, goblet of life or victor's emblem
Treantaur, level 180+ (or evolved), 6/10 skill (8/10 would be nice, but 6/10 is minimum), some revive, some revite, eye of garuda
Reaper or SM, evolved to at least level 160, 7/10 skill, revive, victor's emblem
PD, 9/10 skill (8/10 is not good enough), evolved to at least 160, revive, blitz scroll. Stronger pds should add revite crests, probably risking no revive.

Possible substitutions (if you do not own Treantaur or your Treantaur sucks):

Valentina with minimum 8/10 skill, evolved. 5vite would be incredible, but at least 3vite is recommended.
Add Reaper or SM so that you are using both Reaper and SM.

Another substitution is to add Ghoulem. I know Grey does this, but I don't know which hero he is not using when he does this.

Who uses Tree if the spot 3 player does not have Tree? Honestly, any player in spots 1, 2, or 4 can swing it, but it's easiest if spot 1 or spot 2 does the substitution. This will confuse some players, but my recommendation is that the player in spot 1 removes Aries and inserts Tree. Aries was originally needed to help prevent the demon from proc'ing, but due to all of the pets that can debuff, we can remove the demon's negates damage aura very quickly nowadays. Just use Celestin and and Aviar and all of a sudden, Aries is simply not necessary.

Got a strong SK? Spot 1 could be yours

Minimum recommendations:

Reaper or SM, evolved to at least level 180, 7/10 skill, revive, victor's emblem
PK, evolved, level 180, skill level is irrelevant (due to damage caps), revive crests, goblet of life or victor's emblem
SK, devo to level 160, 7/10 skill, revite crests, victor's emblem
Aries*, evo to level 180, 8/10 skill, revive crests, goblet or victor's
Ghoulem, evo to level 180 (ideally devo), 8/10 skill, revite crests (OK if no revive), eye of garuda, Celestin pet

Possible substitutions:

5vite Cupid instead of Reaper/SM (Mohit does this with great success)
Treantaur instead of Aries (when spot 3 player does not have Treantaur)

* This may be controversial, but I honestly think we should permanently take out Aries and replace with Treantaur. I have seen enough runs with this configuration to conclude that this increases our success rate. Bear in mind, I have a devo 9/10 Aries and I like using him, but despite that, I think we're better off if I use my Tree. To be clear, this is because of the Celestin pet. The original need for Aries no longer exists.

Ready to help make or break lava? Spot 2 is for you!

When I was a rookie, I used to think spot 1 was more important than spot 2. It is true that spot 1 requires a strong player, but whether or not we actually beat lava 3 often depends on if the spot 2 player can hold his own.

Minimum recommendations:

PD, 9/10 skill, evo to at least 160, revite crests (although 5vite is a dream), blitz scroll, Celestin pet
Reaper/SM, evolved to at least level 180, revive, victor's emblem
Reaper/SM or Valentina, 8/10 skill, evo to 160, revite + revive crests, victor's emblem. Mathematically, I would say that Valentina is more useful than second Reaper/SM.
Ghoulem, 8/10 skill, evo to at least 180 (ideally devo), revite crests, victor's, Celestin pet
PK, evolved, level 180, skill level is irrelevant (due to damage caps), revive crests, goblet of life or victor's emblem

Possible substitutions:

Treantaur instead Reaper/SM. You would do this if the player in spot 3 does not use Treantaur. Placement of Treantaur is critical so he does not die easily. I recommend the square to the right of the middle square. In conjunction with this, I recommend that the spot 1 player also use Tree instead of Aries.

Strong enough to anchor lava? Spot 4 is for you!

Truth be told, if you are strong enough to do spot 4, you don't need my advice! I will only say this:

5vite Valentina is highly recommended. If you don't have one, you need somebody with a 5vite Cupid to assist.

Final Thoughts

Naturally other possibilities exist, but my recommendations are purely based on what I've observed in the Lava 3 runs where I have participated. At the time of this writing, I have spent a lot of time in all of spots 1, 2, and 3, with success. I'm also not joking about labeling these as minimum recommendations. Lava 3 requires a great team, even for spot 3. Most players in Lava 3 exceed these recommendations by having a bunch of devos.