Why role is more useful than class alone
Infantry, Cavalry, and Archer describe base stat profiles and common tendencies, but they do not fully describe the hero’s job. Conquest Lab uses gameplay-observed tags because two heroes of the same class may have opposite formation purposes.
Frontline roles
- Anchor: mitigation, Defense, healing, dodge, or invulnerability keeps the lane alive.
- Bruiser: combines survival with area, burst, or cleave damage.
- Control front: uses stun, knockback, disable, or confuse to reduce incoming pressure.
- Counter front: placed directly opposite a target hero.
- Bait front: intentionally changes the first-death sequence.
Backline roles
- Damage carry: burst, area damage, repeated hits, or stacking damage.
- Backline hunter: explicitly attacks heroes or the enemy rear row.
- Control carry: combines damage with stun, immobilize, attack-speed reduction, or vulnerability.
- Backline anchor: durable hero used to absorb rear pressure.
- Lane support: positioned to help kill the correct enemy front first.
Support and control roles
Support is not limited to healing. Cleanse, control immunity, anti-heal, team Defense, Attack buffs, vulnerability, and enemy Attack Speed reduction can be the effect that turns a formation from a power wall into a win.
Control is also matchup-dependent. A stun-heavy hero loses value against cleanse and immunity, while anti-heal has little value when the enemy formation has no meaningful sustain.
How Conquest Lab tags are used
Tags describe observed behavior: damage shape, targeting, control, survival, healing, buffs, debuffs, triggers, and position tendency. They feed comparison tools, experimental substitutions, guide projections, and utility-counter analysis.
A hero with more tags is not automatically better. The value depends on position, stats, timing, teammates, and the enemy formation.
Building complete utility coverage
- One or two heroes capable of surviving the opening lanes.
- Enough damage to finish a target after control or vulnerability lands.
- A response to the enemy’s strongest mechanic.
- No unnecessary duplication of low-value utility.
- A plan for backline targeting.
- A clear first target and retarget transition.
Conquest conclusions use the current raw Conquest Lab dataset. Arena conclusions are preliminary projections unless a section explicitly says otherwise. Exact private rows, lineups, powers, and ratios are not published.