Ambessa
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Excellent (9/10)
High Investment Required
Paid Relics
Rare Relics OK
Ambessa is widely regarded as a top-tier powerhouse, often ranked alongside Swain as one of the strongest Noxian champions. Her playstyle allows for aggressive board control, "printing" powerful followers, and executing high-health threats effortlessly at higher investments. While she functions competently at lower star levels, her true potential is unlocked via her 4th and 6th stars, making her a high-investment but highly rewarding champion.
The Ravenous General
Triggers Plunder immediately on Game Start to activate cost-reduction relics and drains the enemy nexus.
Utilizes the Plunder trigger to reduce Ambessa's cost by 2, allowing for a Turn 1 drop.
Upon playing Ambessa, this draws a card costing less than her base cost (typically Legion Marauder or Rictus) and grants it an Epic item. This sets up an immediate board presence to begin cloning.
Strategy
This build focuses on extreme tempo. By triggering Plunder automatically, you can deploy Ambessa on Turn 1. Found Fortune then tutors a key follower—usually a Legion Marauder or Rictus—with a powerful Epic item. From there, you use Ambessa's created spells to create copies of this buffed unit, overwhelming the opponent with a wide, scaling board immediately.
Hex-Tech Phalanx
Creates a Hex Core Upgrade every round. Playing this on an ally counts as targeting them, triggering Ambessa's 4-Star power (Phalanx) to grant Barrier at Burst speed.
Synergizes with the Hex Core buffs. Fated and Augment allow Ambessa to scale rapidly, unlocking Keywords like Overwhelm and Challenger once she hits 10 Power.
Provides Spellshield to summoned allies, protecting your scaling units and Ambessa from hard removal.
Strategy
This setup maximizes the value of Ambessa's 4-Star power, Phalanx. Since Hex Core Upgrades target allies, they provide a consistent source of Burst-speed Barrier, making Ambessa and her units nearly impossible to kill in combat. This durability allows you to take favorable trades aggressively while scaling up via Fated and Augment.
Free-To-Play Skirmisher
Strike an enemy on summon. Helps level Ambessa quickly and removes immediate threats.
Grants Overwhelm to all allies, ensuring that your wide board of copied followers can push lethal damage through blockers.
Allows Ambessa to consume her supporting ally (often a temporary copy or a used Rictus) to gain their stats and keywords, consolidating power onto a protected unit.
Strategy
A standard aggressive approach that doesn't rely on Epic relics. Stalker's Blade accelerates her level-up condition or generates a 'Midnight Raid' spell if it kills. Troll King's Crown ensures damage connects, and CSF allows you to recycle units that have already attacked or are about to die.
Other Relic Options
Useful for players without the 4-Star (Phalanx) upgrade. It ensures Ambessa can attack safely to generate value, though it becomes redundant once she gains consistent access to Barrier.
Generates cheap spells on attack. Useful for triggering Phalanx or simply having more fuel for her kit.
Provides spell mana to consistently cast 'The Darkin Ballista' or other cloning spells every turn.
Avoid Ambessa's signature relic, 'Twin Drakehounds'. It is widely considered extremely weak and ineffective compared to standard options like Stalker's Blade or Troll King's Crown.
Constellation
Ambessa is a champion who scales significantly with constellation investment. While playable at 3-Stars, she transforms into a defensive juggernaut at 4-Stars and a removal engine at 6-Stars. Her 2-Star power is essential for her 'Printer' playstyle, giving you the tools to copy your best units.
Military Training
When an ally attacks, grant allies with the same name everywhere +1|+0.
Reinforce the Formation
+1 Starting Mana. Round Start: Create a Conscription, or if you already have one, reduce its cost by 1.
Military Training II
When an ally attacks, grant allies with the same name everywhere +1|+1.
Phalanx
When you target an ally, give it Barrier this round.Review
Phalanx is a game-changer. Granting Barrier to any ally you target with a spell turns her offensive buffs and cloning tools into defensive saves. This power drastically increases the survivability of her board in high-tier content.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.
Out of my way!
When you attack with 10+ total Power, kill the strongest backrow enemy.Review
A massive power spike. Instantly killing the strongest enemy when attacking with 10+ power allows Ambessa to bypass huge blockers (like Aurelion Sol) entirely. It trivializes many encounters by simply removing the opponent's win condition on attack declaration.
Gameplay Tips
The Rictus & Marauder Printer
Ambessa's primary strength lies in her ability to clone followers. Rictus and Legion Marauder are the prime targets. Rictus provides crowd control (Stuns) and free attacks, while Marauders scale the entire board. Often, the strategy involves treating Ambessa as a support engine to fill the board with these high-value followers rather than focusing solely on her damage.
Anti-Synergy with Twin Drakehounds
Avoid purchasing or using Ambessa's specific bundle relic, Twin Drakehounds. The community consensus is that the effect is negligible and occupies a slot better served by almost any other combat or utility relic.
C6 and Rictus Interaction
Be aware that Ambessa's 6-Star power (Execute strongest enemy) triggers on attack declaration. If you are relying on Rictus to stun the strongest blocker, the 6-Star power might kill that unit first, effectively wasting the stun on a target that is already dead. Plan your attacks knowing the strongest enemy will likely vanish immediately.
Phalanx abuse with Hex Core
If you have the Perfect Hex Core relic, playing the created 'Hex Core Upgrade' on an ally counts as targeting them. With Ambessa's 4-Star power, this grants that ally Barrier at Burst speed. This interaction allows you to proactively shield key units or save them from removal mid-combat.