Craum, The Elemental Shaman: Massive Heals and Toxic Returns

Overview

Craum is a 5-star Legendary Nature hero from the Super Elemental family, released back in mid-2024. He arrived on the scene as a hybrid powerhouse, offering one of the largest boosted heals in the game combined with aggressive elemental damage over time (DoT). While he is a Druid, his kit screams "sustain tank," designed to keep your team alive through sheer hit point volume while slowly eroding the enemy defense with elemental status ailments. In the current late-2025 meta, he stands as a testament to the era of "over-healing," though his stats are starting to show their age.

Hero Art & Visuals

Let's address the elephant in the room: Craum does not look like a Druid. He looks like he ate a Druid and stole their staff. With a massive, muscular build, an eyepatch, and a giant glowing green blade, he fits the visual archetype of a Barbarian or a Fighter perfectly. The community has had a field day with this, joking that he's the most aggressive "healer" to ever grace a card. The art is vibrant, with excellent green and gold tones, but it’s definitely a case of "don't judge a book by its cover"—or in this case, don't judge a class by its biceps.

General Info

Hero Stats

When Craum was released, his 1049 Power was impressive. However, in the context of late 2025, where new heroes like Telonius C1 and Turundh are pushing base Power levels of 1260+, Craum is undoubtedly falling behind.

• Attack (1027): Low by modern standards. He isn't a direct damage dealer, so this is forgivable, but it limits his tile damage.
• Defense (1079): Average to Low. He needs significant fortification from troops and emblems to survive against modern snipers who can hit for 1500+ damage.
• Health (1876): Still respectable, but no longer a "meat shield" level.
• Reality Check: Craum's Limit Broken 2 (LB2) stats (Power ~1264) are roughly equivalent to the base stats of a modern December 2025 hero. This means to use him competitively, you must commit to Limit Breaking him.

Special Skill: Call of the Elements

Analysis: The Call of the Elements is a skill that has aged surprisingly well due to its sheer numerical output.

1. The Heal: 800 boosted health is a strong baseline. The scaling mechanism (+50 per Nature shield up to 1400) is the real star. Even with just 4-5 Nature tiles on the board, you are looking at a 1000+ HP swing. This massive overheal is often enough to negate an entire round of enemy special attacks.
2. The Elemental DoT: This is where Craum gets funky. He deals 1400 damage over 4 turns (350 per turn) to enemies, but only if they match the specific elements (Ice, Fire, Dark, Holy).
   • Versatility: He hits 4 out of 5 elements. Nature enemies are safe from his DoT.
   • Output: 350 damage per turn is significant, but in 2025, cleaners and ailment blockers are everywhere. It serves better as pressure than a kill shot.

By the Numbers

• Mana Speed: Average. He requires 10 tiles to charge (9 with a level 23 Mana Troop).
• Max Healing Potential: 1400 Boosted Health x 5 Allies = 7000 Total Health Pool swing. This is his primary contribution.
• Damage Potential: 1400 Damage per enemy (if non-Nature). If facing a rainbow team without a cleanser, he can theoretically dispense 5600 total damage over 4 turns.
• Passives: His Troop Mastery modifies damage by significant percentages (+100% / -10%), making his tiles hit harder against Blue titans and helping him survive Red hits slightly better.

Family Bonus, Passives, Aether Power & Unique Abilities

Family Bonus

The Super Elemental family bonus is tied to the Power Gems. It creates distinct board manipulation where gems of the hero's element deal damage to random enemies. It's a nice bonus for mono-teams but less reliable in rainbow formations.

Passives

Troop Mastery is a defining passive for this family.

• Offense: +100% extra elemental damage with troops. This makes his tile damage against Ice targets absolutely wither-inducing, despite his lower attack stat.
• Defense: -10% received elemental damage from Fire. It helps, but with his aging defense stat, don't rely on it to save him from a modern Fire sniper like Jwala.

Aether Power

Ailment Reflect is arguably the best Aether Power in the game for a healer. For the first 6 turns of battle, Craum reflects all status ailments.

• Why it's good: It protects him from Defense Down, Silence, or Mana Block at the start of the match, ensuring he can fire his first heal.
• Strategic Value: Put him in a position where he might take splash hits from ailment casters to bounce those effects back.

Legacy & Modern Relevance

• Historical Context: Upon release, Craum was a "destroyer of worlds" (to quote the community). His overheal was nearly unmatched, and the sheer volume of DoT he dispensed made him a menace in long fights.
• Power Creep Analysis: Stat-wise, he has been crept hard. A gap of ~200 Power points means he takes more damage and deals less than his modern peers. However, 1400 Boosted Health is still a "modern" number. Most 2025 healers heal for 45-50% or boost for ~800-1000. Craum's ceiling remains elite.
• Modern Viability: Viable but vulnerable. He is no longer a top-tier tank due to his stats, but he is an excellent flank or wing in War Attack teams, especially against heavy passive teams where raw HP is the only counter.

Emblem Path Analysis

Craum is a healer first and a damage dealer second. His DoT is fixed damage and does not scale with his Attack stat. Therefore, keeping him alive is priority #1.

The Iron Bark (The Defender)

• Path: Defense > Health > Attack
• Pros: Maximizes his survivability. With his aging stats, he needs every point of Defense to survive a hit from a hero like Turundh or Adelitza.
• Cons: Lowers his tile damage, though his Passive compensates for this against Ice enemies.

The Aggressive Shaman (The Punisher)

• Path: Attack > Defense > Health
• Pros: Increases tile damage and makes the Power Gem damage slightly higher.
• Cons: leaves him too squishy. Not recommended for the current meta.

Final Recommendation

For most players, the Defense > Health path is the only logical choice. You bring Craum to heal; if he dies before he charges, he is useless.

Strengths

• Massive Overheal: One of the highest healing ceilings in the game (1400 HP).
• Aether Power: Ailment Reflect ensures he usually gets to fire at least once.
• Tile Damage: Passive +100% elemental damage makes him hit like a truck against Blue Titans/Heroes.
• Punishes Rainbow Defense: His special hits 4 out of 5 elements with DoT.

Weaknesses

• Aging Stats: Extremely fragile compared to Dec 2025 heroes without heavy investment (LB2 + 25 Emblems).
• Cleanse Vulnerability: His offensive pressure (DoT) is easily cleansed.
• Nature Immunity: Does zero special skill damage to Green enemies.
• Average Speed: In a Fast/Very Fast meta, Average speed healers often fire one turn too late.

Best Game Modes

• Rush Attack Wars/Tournaments: With Very Fast speed, he becomes a nightmare, constantly resetting your team's HP to double its max and layering DoTs.
• Map/Quest Stages: The overheal makes auto-farming safe and easy.
• War Attack: excellent against non-Nature tanks. His Ailment Reflect allows him to be brought into teams with heavy debuffers (like Goblins) safely.
• Blue Titans: High tile damage passive makes him a staple for Titan teams.

Advanced Strategy & Team Compositions

Sample Team Ideas

• The "Never Die" War Team:
  • Craum + Hathor + Toon Vivica.
  • Why: Layering Overheal with pure healing and cleanses makes the team incredibly hard to kill. Craum provides the "offensive" pressure with his DoT while the others sustain.
• The Dot Stack:
  • Craum + Rayne + Kalliope.
  • Why: Stack different types of DoT (Poison, Sand, Burn) to overwhelm the enemy's ability to cleanse or out-heal the damage.

Counters & Anti-Synergies

• Counters: Goblins (who lower max HP) are his nemesis. Cleansers (like Toon Rigard) negate his offense. Nature Enemies ignore his special's damage entirely.
• Anti-Synergy: Don't pair him with too many other average speed passive healers, or you'll lack the burst damage to finish enemies off.

Advice for New Players

If you pulled Craum early, congratulations. He will carry you through the entire Map Season 1-5 simply by making your team invincible with boosted health. Prioritize leveling him immediately.

Advice for Veterans

Craum is a "luxury" depth hero now. He is fantastic for your 3rd or 4th War team, specifically to counter heavy Ice wings or flanks. Is he worth Alpha Aethers? Only if you lack a modern 5-star healer. The Ailment Reflect is great, but his stats might not justify the cost compared to a new Construct or Astral hero.

Community Corner: Hot Takes & History

• The Identity Crisis: Players couldn't get over his art. One user noted, "This guy looks nothing like a druid, but a barbarian. Would have appreciated a barbarian healer."
• The "April Fools" Reaction: Upon reading his 1400 boosted health buff, one player asked, "Wait – are they serious? Cause I thought it was suddenly April 1st or something."
• Tank Debate: While some voted for him as a tank, experienced players quickly realized his limitations. "Just done three attacks against him in a war, rubbish tank... He really isn’t a tough tank."
• The "Op" Verdict: At release, the sentiment was clear: "Destroyers of worlds... absolute monster." It's a reminder of how quickly the window of "OP" closes in Empires & Puzzles.

Final Thoughts

Craum is a hero caught between two eras. His skill design—massive overheal and multi-element punishment—is timelessly effective. However, his physical stats are a relic of mid-2024. He is like a heavyweight boxer who still has a knockout punch but can't take the hits like he used to. If you can keep him alive with emblems and smart team play, he remains a Solid A-Tier healer. If you leave him unprotected, he's just a large, green target.

Verdict: A viable, high-output healer who demands Limit Breaking to survive the current meta.