Avalanche Exploit Guide for Seasons and Adventure
Overview
The Avalanche rune for the Ice Ring was released during the 2021 Wintertide event. Shortly after release, it was found to be very strong. After some testing, an oversight by the developers was found to be the cause. It was also later found out, that it could be paired with other runes and be viable for Endgame Adventure.
This guide will explore the exploit itself and the current setups for both Seasons and Adventure. With one notable exception, all main runes listed below are flash offer runes and not unlocked through an Adventure which puts a bit of luck for when one can start utilizing the exploit. The exploits are not mandatory to use, but progress further than any other setup (while being faster, easier, and more enjoyable). There are alternative teams (linked later) if you wish to avoid the exploit. The exploit has not been fixed in the over 2 years since and will remain for the foreseeable future.
Skill Point Priority uses L# R# notation for Left/Right and the passive ability number. MA, RA, and LA are for abilities. If this is followed by (#), then this designates put # points into that skill (Ex: L3(1) is 1 point into L3).
What is Avalanche and how is it exploited?
Avalanche is a rune introduced during the 2021 Wintertide Event with 2 other ice runes. Avalanche rune in-game reads off as follows:
Each shard that doesn't hit an enemy increases the damage of the next shard that hits by [40+5*level]% (5% for every next shard)
This obviously has clear ties to the Sharpness rune which has been in the game for a long time. Sharpness is not exploitable and works as intended. So where is the problem with Avalanche? The damage does reset as you may expect. There is a lot of cloudiness surrounding the accuracy of the mechanics, but this will be split between 2 subcategories of the exploit: Ava-Rage and Stinger Avalanche.
Ava-Rage
Ava-Rage is performed through using Avalanche with Ice Rage (obtained from Adventure Stage 540). The trigger for the damage to reset is not fully understood to this day both due to it being a more recent development (~October 2023) and it being more confusing overall. Unlike Stinger Avalanche, giving the ring energy poses no risk of resetting the stacks making it much easier to use.
Unfortunately, Ava-Rage does have a tendency to perform what has been coined a "Rage Quit". Almost randomly, the exploit will reset itself almost always spelling the end of a run. This has a correlation with keeping the energy of the ring above 0 (aka keeping Ice Rage going) as well as the ring not killing fast enough, but it can stop for seemingly no reason occasionally without this occuring. Due to Ice Rage's naturally insane speed gap between any other ring carry for recovery, Ava-Rage also lends itself to being significantly faster per run than Stinger Avalanche.
Stinger Avalanche
Stinger Avalanche is performed through using Stinger and Avalanche rune together. The Stinger Avalanche Exploit has a very specific trigger that causes it to reset damage stacks. If the energy bar of the ice ring is increased at all, then it will immediately reset the damage to 0; however, if the ring is dealing damage with the energy bar always at 0, then the damage will keep adding +5% for each missed shard from the initial [40+5*levels]% infinitely (as far as we can tell).
This is only achievable through Stinger. Stinger drops a shard every [1.3-0.1*level] seconds, but without increasing the energy bar as the auto-tap runes for fire and lightning do. Any other methods will increase the energy bar (including auto-tap merchant item). When you have Stinger and Avalanche equipped (without Ice Rage equipped because it increases energy), the damage from the ice ring will grow linearly and infinitely far surpassing any damage achieved from the ring from any method.
Common Mistakes
There are a not a lot of common mistakes while using Avalanche as your carry. However, some still exist and the most common are below:
[SA]: Stinger Avalanche [AR]: Ava-Rage
- [SA] Tapping the screen and giving energy to the ring. This includes dragons, but does not include hero ultimate's as long as you tap in the middle area and don't clip the edges.
- [AR] Having Stinger equipped with Ice Rage. These 2 rules do not work together almost at all, but do separately.
- [SA][AR] Equipping not beneficial or slightly beneficial runes. This is mainly an error in Seasons, but despite there being a lack of good runes for non-energy ice ring, there are a few that benefit such as Frost Armor, Cold Wind, and Freezing Mist. Some setups require specific runes to function.
- [SA][AR] Going offline in the middle of a run will reset Avalanche stacks. This is only a strategy for Max Stage Endgame setup due to them being forced too. This is not as impactful for other Adventure runs as you can regain the stacks, but for a Seasons run, this will most certainly mark the end of a run.
Minimum Investment of Rune Levels
Each rune used is listed below:
Ice Rage is not needed if running Stinger Avalanche and visa versa
- Avalanche (1): Basically worthless to level up as it changes 0 to the overall impact.
- Stinger (8-10): High priority to level up, but it works at middle level investment (0.3-0.5).
- Ice Rage (1+): Upgrading provides a signficiant consistency boost for Ava-Rage, but works at level 1. Priority upgrade after Freezing Mist.
- Cold Wind (1): For Seasons, this is always better leveled up, but makes little to no difference.
- Frost Armor (1): Better leveled up, but it barely changes the outcome and more as a top alternative than anything.
- Freezing Mist (1+): This rune will significantly boost your stage potential in adventure as your levels go up, but it only roughly doubles from lvl 1 to lvl 12 so up to preference when this is upgraded.
Season Mode Setups
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE AVALANCHE RUNE, READ SEASONS GUIDE.
In Seasons, the ring damage does not have the same missed out buffs, that are present in adventure. The ring damage is just low enough that it is never considered as a damage source due to hero evolution's and hero skills outshining the damage as well as pets. However, the scaling of the ring damage far surpasses hero and pet damage making it the new damage carry. There are some occasional Challenge effects that can ruin Ava Exploit. The main ones are Reflect Damage (both), Death Damage (both), and Hero Attacks as Ring Taps (Stinger Avalanche).
Ava-Rage without Freezing Mist coming soon
Ava-Rage With Freezing Mist
This is one of the biggest developments of the Ava-Rage Discovery by C2. Unlike the Adventure setups, Ava-Rage is the dominant setup in Seasons.
As a preface, be warned of a known inconsistency being prevalent due to "Rage Quitting" as well as a very strange wall that presents itself around 580-600. For some unknown reason, almost every run that makes it this far will die to this wall (occasionally slightly further). This can occur with even with seemingly random heroes and setups (most can reason 550-570). Best theory atm is surrounding an Ava-Rage/Avalanche damage cap (same as mentioned earlier), but this isn't the only theory and will not be open to confirmation until full code decomposition is performed. The setup below is unaffected and is built around consistency to reaching this cap (and beyond).
Heroes below are chosen in priority to utilize depending on 1-5 Heroes available in Challenge.
| Hero | Trinket | Skill Point Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Vexx | Team Damage - Heal/sec - Steal Gold | L2-R2(1)-L3-LA-R2-R1 |
| V | Team Damage - Heal/sec - Steal Gold | R3-LA-L2-R1-RA-R2-L1 |
| Lenny* | Self Damage - Heal/sec - Steal Gold | R2(50%)-R4-R2-L4 |
| Hilt** | Team Damage - Heal/sec - Steal Gold | RA(1)-L4(10)-L3-L4-L2-L1-R1 |
| Redroh | Team Damage - Heal/sec - Steal Gold | R4(1)-L4(1)-R4-R3-LA-L3-L4 |
* Put ~ 8 points into R2 before moving onto R4
** If running Platypus, then no initial RA(1) point.
Ring: Ice Rage - Avalanche - Freezing Mist (All Required)
Pets (in order of priority): Mouse - Chicken - Cobra - Tiger - Wolf*
* Can use Panda instead of Wolf if low Wolf level. Platypus can also be used instead of Wolf for slightly more consistency with not dying early to an early "Rage Quit".
No Freezing Mist
Setups for Seasons strays a bit from the traditional Hero setups; however, you can reuse a lot of the trinkets and still be able to clear 1800 with ease. For Oy/Sam, you can use any self hp trinket such as found in adventure lineups for Hero metas. This setup works with Ava-Rage and Stinger Avalanche, but Stinger Avalanche is preferred. This setup is worse than Ava-Rage With Freezing Mist so if you have Freezing Mist, use that setup.
2-5 Hero Challenges (order of picking)
| Hero | Trinket | Skill Point Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Oy | Self HP% - CDR on shield - CDR on attack or Gold Steal | RA-R2-R4-R3-L3-MA-L2-L4 |
| V | Team HP% - shield on att - gold steal | RA-R2-R4-R3-L3-MA-L2-L4 |
| Nanna | Team HP% - shield on att - gold steal | RA(1)-L4-L3-L2-R1-RA-R2 |
| Vexx | Team HP% - shield on att - gold steal | L2-R2-LA-L3-R1-L4-L1 |
| Hilt | Team HP% - shield on att - gold steal | L4(1)-R2-L4-R1-L2-L1 |
The best specific lineup changes depending on specific gate effects such as gold effects. The best general order is listed above. Boomer is replacement for gold on stun gates.
Ring: (Stinger / Ice Rage) - Avalanche - Cold Wind (Frost Armor/Nova for 300% dmg against slow Challenges)
Stinger is preferred if possible.
Pets: Porcupine - Spider - Sloth - Chicken - Mouse
Armadillo is replacement for Chicken/Mouse if no shield on attack trinkets.Chicken requires a support hero in the lineup. Drop if not using one.
1 Hero Challenges (Rare)
| Hero | Trinket | Skill Point Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Sam | Self HP% - Gold when hit - Gold Steal | R3(1)-L3(1)-R1(4)-R3-R1-L1-LA-R4-RA |
Ring: Stinger - Avalanche - Cold Wind (Frost Armor/Nova for 300% dmg against slow Challenges)
Pets: Porcupine - Spider - Sloth - Mouse - Armadillo
Additional Notes (Old Setup):
- Nova and Frost Armor are all roughly equivalent on 300% dmg to slow heroes.
- Due to the rarity of 1 Hero challenges, you are not required to make Sam's Trinket. This trinket is identical to Belly's Adventure trinket if you do use Belly in Adventure.
- Gold Bee, Koala, and Red Panda are both alternatives if you are missing the listed pets, but Gold Bee generally wins. Cobra or Gold Bee is alternative when chicken cannot be ran due to no support hero.
- Some heroes (namely oy) have an emphasis on their active, you can swap the skill points used for it out if you are not using actives.
- V's dodge skill (L3) does not help here due to heroes being practically one shot by the time your team starts dying and this requires minimum 2 hits to get under X% hp to dodge.
- Any remaining skill points can be distributed as you like.
- On 5 hero challenges during a season with a dodge item, you can replace Sloth with Lightning Rabbit if you wish, but still experimental and may not be better.
- Some seasons have effects that make ava exploit impossible due to giving ring energy, such as hero attacks are ring taps. For these seasons, using the normal hero setup for seasons without exploit is best, but not required due to the simple ease of hitting 1800+ total stages anyways and only needing a single stage to farm rewards afterwards on.
Adventure Setups
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AVALANCHE (AND FREEZING MIST FOR LATEGAME/ENDGAME), THEN READ THE GENERAL GUIDE OR WATCH THE ENDGAME SETUP VIDEO.
In Adventure, the ring damage alone is not enough to be able to get anywhere near useful by the time you hit endgame. Ring was previously 800-1000 stages behind heroes and the avalanche scaling is not enough to surpass that much of a gap.
| Early/Midgame | ||
| Setup | Rune Requirements | Stages Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Ava-Rage | Ice Rage - Avalanche | 540 to 4800 |
| Stinger Avalanche | Stinger - Avalanche | 300 to 4800 |
| Late/Endgame | ||
| Setup | Rune Requirements | Stages Effective |
| Active | Avalanche - Freezing Mist - (Ice Rage or Stinger) | 300/540 to 5850-5900 |
| Idle | Avalanche - Freezing Mist - (Ice Rage or Stinger) | 300/540 to 5850-5900 |
| Max Stage | Avalanche - Freezing Mist - Stinger | 5700-5800 to 5999 10/10 |
Early/Midgame
All of these setups work starting from early requirements (300 or 540 as mentioned in the table above). They are to be used while still getting Freezing Mist. As you can run Ava-Rage setups with Freezing Mist in Late/Endgame, once you obtain Freezing Mist, you should swap to using those setups instead.
Ava-Rage
(Works from Stage 540 to about Stage 4000-4800)
This setup works as soon as you unlock Ice Rage rune for Ice Ring at stage 540 assuming you have the Avalanche rune already. There will not be a trinket set as you will not need them until mid-3000s with Curio Hoard, but any trinkets work in that case until you move onto the setups below or a hero setup. You will also focus into ring damage artifacts over hero damage and hero health (gold still priority).
All Heroes kept as low of level as possible and max skills listed to reduce revive timer.
| Heroes (in order) | Skills to Max |
|---|---|
| Uno | R1 |
| Wendle | L1 |
| Vexx | L2 |
| V | R3-LA-L2(rest) |
| Hilt | R2-R1 |
If you only have 1 Skill Level Req. Unique Effects, then order is Uno-Wendle-Vexx-Hilt-V. At 2/3, use the order above.
Uno replaced by Sam or Redroh if you have not unlocked him yet.
Ring: Ice Rage - Avalanche - Anything
Pets (in order of priority): Chicken - Mouse - Cobra - Wolf - Red Panda
Note: Replacement pets are other dmg pets that affect Ring Dmg.
Stinger Avalanche
(Works from Stage 300 to about Stage 4000-4800)
This setup works as soon as you unlock the ice ring at stage 300 assuming you have the Stinger and Avalanche runes. Stinger setup is preferred over Ice Rage setup due to higher consistency (and lack of Rage Quits), but if you want faster Adventure runs, then feel free to use the Ice Rage setup. There will not be a trinket set as you will not need them until mid-3000s with Curio Hoard, but any trinkets work in that case until you move onto the setups below or a hero setup. You will also focus into ring damage artifacts over hero damage and hero health (gold still priority).
All Heroes kept as low of level as possible and max skills listed to reduce revive timer.
| Heroes (in order) | Skills to Max |
|---|---|
| Uno | R1 |
| Hilt | R2-R1 |
| Wendle | L1 |
| V | R3-LA (rest) |
| Redroh | L4 |
If you only have 1 Skill Level Req. Unique Effects, then order is Uno-Wendle-Hilt-V-Redroh. At 2/3, use the order above.
Uno and Redroh replaced by Sam and Vexx if you have not unlocked them.
Ring: Stinger - Avalanche - anything but ice rage
Pets (in order of priority): Chicken - Mouse - Cobra - Wolf - Red Panda
Note: Replacement pets are other dmg pets that affect Ring Dmg.
Late/Endgame
Outside of Max Stage setups, all following setups require Avalanche, Freezing Mist, and either Stinger or Ice Rage (Stinger preferred) to work and beat out Endgame Hero compositions. Other cases, you will run the normal setup(s) linked above.
The following setups are all for Lategame/Endgame Adventure. These all rely on Freezing Mist. As discussed above, Freezing Mist makes the Ring Damage effectively entirely Hero Damage. This means all focus, including Regular Artifacts and their unique effects, will be on Hero buffs with occasional exception (such as Ring Crit Chance).
Each setup has been forced to build around the final Mythical Artifact, Quintet, which boost all Hero Health, gold, and Hero Damage by 27x as long as all 5 heroes are alive. This is never an issue for normal setups, but this makes a huge difference for this exploit due to there being no feasible way to have any Hero stay alive due to enemy damage scaling. This results in all 3 using Uno Revive Engine, to keep heroes as alive as often as possible, and low level heroes, for low revive timers. Because of the Hero Damage focus, at least one Hero must be leveled with gold forcing long revive timers on them specifically.
Active Setup
For this setup, all gold will be focused into Boomer. Boomer has a natural revive reduction and immunity after using his active which helps the consistency of being alive as much as possible. For an active general endgame setup, you will want it to be as consistent and quick as possible and this is best achieved through a quick revive hero as the main damage. This setup also heavily depends on using Boomer's active as much as possible. If you cannot, then use the idle setup below this.
Heroes in order:
| Heroes (Level) | Trinket | Skill Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Vexx (1) | Team dmg - Curse on Att - Stun on 15 hits | L2 |
| Uno (2) | Team dmg - Anything - Revive when rest of team is dead | R1-L1(3) |
| V (3) | Team dmg - Blind on Att - Dodge | R3-LA |
| Redroh (9) | Team dmg - Stun on Att - Prevent dying | L4-L2(2)-R4(4) |
| Boomer (Max) | Self dmg - Revive reduce - Double revive speed on death | Maxed |
Ring: Avalanche - Freezing Mist - (Ice Rage / Stinger) (Stinger Preferred)
Pets: Wolf - Mouse - Chicken - Tiger - Cobra
Idle Setup
For this setup, all gold will be focused into Hilt. Hilt has natural dodge built into him which allows for him to survive a bit longer than the other heroes will. Because we are not running any defend heroes, we can also run Lightning Rabbit which increases all hero dodge by X% when no defend heroes are alive. This also allows for the most consistent progression while idle and not using actives of the heroes. He also increases self damage for every ally alive which pairs with quintet well.
Heroes in order:
| Heroes (Level) | Trinket | Skill Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Vexx (1) | Team dmg - Curse on Att - Stun on 15 hits | L2 |
| Uno (2) | Team dmg - Anything - Revive when rest of team is dead | R1-L1(3) |
| V (3) | Team dmg - Blind on Att - Dodge | R3-LA |
| Redroh (9) | Team dmg - Stun on Att - Prevent dying | L4-L2(2)-R4(4) |
| Hilt (Max) | Self dmg - Revive reduce - Double revive speed on death | Maxed |
Ring: Avalanche - Freezing Mist - (Ice Rage / Stinger) (Stinger Preferred)
Pets: Wolf - Rabbit - Chicken - Tiger - Cobra
Max Stage Setup
Note: This setup is designed exclusively for Uber-Endgame accounts that have most or all elements maxed out. It should not be applied in any other scenario. Additionally, this strategy only works with the Stinger Avalanche setup (Ava-Rage is not compatible).
Wendle is a great damage hero for this case due to his natural cost reduction (40%). Hilt is the best straight damage dealer with his L3 (320%) and L4 (90%). Wendle is chosen over Hilt because his cost reduction during Max Stage makes up for the extra stages possible by Hilt. This is still in testing, but is the current belief between the two and is subject to change. 1 self dmg and 4 team dmg gives the highest single target damage value even with Curio Hoard considered as the goal for this hero is to be as often alive and to boost their Dmg stat. Outside of Nanna's L3, there are no gold pets, skills, etc. because they do not affect the Gold Bag's value which is the relied source of income for any Max Stage setup. Uno is used as a revive engine. He does not have a set secondary trinket effect because there are none beneficial and this can be filled by any remaining effect for Curio Boost. Nanna is set to get hit as often as possible for her passive cost reduction as well as more stun when hit. Using her active immediately after reviving helps achieve this, but not needed. Tam is setup to be kept alive as much as possible so his ultimate cooldown is up as often as possible for when Wendle is alive. His R ability also reduces defense of enemies and thus increases damage. Only 7/9 is needed on Tam's Ult so the boost will last for as long as Wendle stays alive. Tam's R1 is not useful due to the 33% chance for 1 target/second compared to the 10 shards/sec output. It is also not known if this affects Freezing Mist, but it is not used regardless. This is the first time since the first ring meta of Stage 1000 Endgame that Tam has been meta. Boomer is meant to be as alive as much as possible because of his R4. This cycle allows Boomer to keep his L2 immunity consistently for the 20s out of its 40s CD. Stun on Hit applies through death so every 15 hits on Boomer the enemies will be stunned for 13 seconds further increasing survival duration.
Heroes in order:
| Heroes (Level) | Trinket | Skill Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Tam (1) | Team dmg - Blind on Att - Dodge | RA-LA(1)-MA(7) |
| Uno (2) | Team dmg - Anything - Revive when rest of team is dead | R1-L1(3) |
| Nanna (4) | Team dmg - Stun on Att - Prevent dying | L3-R2(3) |
| Boomer (6) | Team dmg - Curse on Att - stun on 15 hits | L2-R4(8) |
| Wendle (Max) | Self dmg - Revive reduce - Double revive speed on death | Maxed |
Ring: Stinger - Avalanche - Freezing Mist (All required)
Pets: Wolf - Red Panda - Ninetails - Tiger - Cobra
Closing Notes
There are a few notes and potential changes to this guide that may be result of further testing and/or bugs in the current game. These are not to be gone with as what to make now, but as something to be aware of in the future that may change.
There is a current bug in the game with the Wind Platypus pet. It's passive "Increase all hero evasion by X%" is supposed to be equivalent and add onto the dodge of other heroes, however, it works differently. It instead acts like a baseline dodge value where if your current dodge is below X%, then your dodge is now X%, but once your dodge is greater than X%, the platypus gives no buff to the heroes dodge. If this was fixed, it would change 2 main areas because Hilt natural dodge + Lightning Rabbit Dodge + Wind Platypus Dodge >100%. Unfortunately, because of the dev's effectively abandoning the game, this bug will likely never get fixed. :(
This would change the Max Stage and Active Adventure setups to be Hilt dodge based damage instead of Wendle. This slightly changes the trinkets for Uno to have both of the better revive 2nd/3rd effects and Hilt to have 3rd effect as dodge. Hilt's 2nd effect will probably be an "X on attack" skill or some filler.
- Nanna would also be dropped from the Max stage team for a different hero not yet figured out.
- Cobra and Ninetails / Chicken would be dropped for Rabbit and Platypus.