Gardered: The Daremoth Who Puts the Wings to Sleep

Overview

Gardered, known as "The Daremoth," fluttered into Empires & Puzzles in September 2025 as part of the Night of Moths Alliance Quest. A 5-star Fire hero of the Fighter class, she brings a refreshing and somewhat chaotic mechanic to the battlefield. Unlike traditional snipers or AoE hitters, Gardered has a fascination with the periphery, specifically targeting the edges of the enemy formation while still delivering a nasty sting to her primary target.

As a modern hero, she fits squarely into the current high-power meta, offering a mix of direct damage, heavy Damage over Time (DoT), and crowd control via Deep Sleep. She is designed to dismantle defensive formations that rely on hiding key support heroes in the wings. Just remember, like a real moth, she can be a bit unpredictable, but mostly for your enemies.

Hero Art & Visuals

The artwork for Gardered is striking, featuring a vibrant color palette dominated by fiery oranges and deep reds, fitting her element perfectly. She sports large, intricate moth wings that function as a cloak, giving her a silhouette that is both elegant and intimidating. The design leans into the "Daremoth" persona, blending insectoid features with a flamboyant, almost masquerade-like human appearance. It is a distinct step away from the classic high-fantasy tropes, offering something that feels organic yet magical. The community has praised the art as "refreshingly new" and "amazing," comparing her favorably to other top-tier designs like Layla.

General Info

Hero Stats

Gardered enters the arena with stats that are very respectable for late 2025. Her Power of 1235 is solid, sitting comfortably in the upper echelon of modern heroes, though slightly trailing the absolute bleeding edge of December 2025 releases like the Titan Hunters.

• Attack (1303): This is her standout stat. It is high, making her Toxin damage and direct hits sting significantly. She is built to hurt things.
• Defense (1207): This is on the lower side for a modern 5-star. She is not made of glass, but she is definitely not a tank. She relies on killing enemies before they kill her.
• Health (2261): A very healthy pool of HP helps mitigate her lower defense, allowing her to survive a few hits while her DoT does its work.

Compared to current benchmarks, she is Competitive. She isn't setting new records for raw stat totals, but her distribution is optimized for her role as an attacker.

Special Skill: Triple Stab

Gardered's "Triple Stab" is a complex skill with three distinct parts that require a bit of tactical thinking:

1. Primary Strike: She hits her selected target for 435% damage and applies a heavy Toxin DoT. This DoT scales aggressively against boosted health and minions, making her a designated counter to "overheal" metas.
2. Wing Clip: She also deals 435% damage to the enemies on the edges of the formation.
3. Nap Time: Those edge enemies are put into Deep Sleep, increasing the damage they take by 80%.

This targeting logic is unique. If you target a hero in the center (tank position), you hit the tank and both wings (3 targets). If you target a wing, you hit that wing (target) AND that wing again (edge), potentially dealing massive burst damage to a single corner hero. This makes her exceptionally versatile: she can be a spread-damage dealer or a corner-sniper depending on your aim.

By the Numbers

Let's break down the potential damage output. We will assume a base attack of roughly 1450 (with troops and emblems).

• Direct Damage: 435% of 1450 is roughly 6,307 damage value (before defense reduction). Against a typical modern defense (approx. 1400 def), this translates to a hit in the 900-1100 range per strike.
• Targeting Synergy:
  • Scenario A (Hit Center): Center takes ~1000 dmg + Toxin. Left Wing takes ~1000 dmg + Sleep. Right Wing takes ~1000 dmg + Sleep.
  • Scenario B (Hit Wing): The Wing is both the "target" and an "edge." They take the primary 435% hit and the edge 435% hit. That is an 870% damage spike on a single hero. If they survive, they sleep.
  • Scenario C (Last Man Standing): If only one enemy remains, the skill explicitly doubles damage. That is effectively an 870% hit plus Toxin.
• Toxin DoT: 628 damage over 4 turns is 157 per turn.
  • Vs Boosted Health: +100% increase -> ~1256 total (314 per turn).
  • Vs Minions: +33% per minion. With 3 minions, that is another +99% damage.
  • Max Potential DoT: Capped at +199%, meaning nearly 1880 damage over 4 turns just from poison. That is lethal.

Mana Speed: Average. With a level 23 mana troop or a level 11 magic troop, she can become functionally Fast (9 tiles) if paired with a bard or other mana bonuses, but out of the box, she requires 10 tiles.

Family Bonus, Passives, Aether Power & Unique Abilities

The Moths generally focus on punishing the enemy or self-sustain, and Gardered is no exception.

Family Bonus

The Moths family bonus (though not explicitly detailed in the provided text, usually involves mana generation or stat boosts for family members) encourages running her with other Moth heroes. However, she functions perfectly fine as a solo act.

Passives

Dodge Special Damage: A 15% chance to dodge special skills is a classic "save your bacon" passive. It is RNG-dependent, so you cannot plan your strategy around it, but when it triggers against a sniper like Quintin or a heavy hitter like Khufu, it can win you the match. It adds a layer of survivability to her somewhat lower defense stat.

Aether Power

Attack Up: This is the best possible Aether Power for her. It directly scales her Special Skill damage and her tile damage. Since her primary role is to eliminate threats, a raw stat boost to Attack is superior to defensive options.

Legacy & Modern Relevance

Historical Context

Released in late 2025, Gardered arrived at a time when passive play (boosted health, heavy minion usage) was rampant. Heroes were becoming incredibly tanky. Gardered was introduced as a direct answer to this, offering a way to punish passive teams through her Toxin scaling and Deep Sleep crowd control.

Power Creep Analysis

Gardered is on the right side of the power creep curve. Her stats are modern, and her "Triple Stab" skill offers damage percentages (435%) that would have been reserved for Slow heroes just a couple of years prior. The combination of high direct damage plus scaling DoT plus hard crowd control (Sleep) compresses three roles into one card.

Modern Viability Verdict

High. She is currently a top-tier offensive hero. In defense, she is trickier to use because the AI might target poorly (e.g., hitting a tank when a wing snipe would kill), but her raw damage output keeps her dangerous. She is not a "must-have" for survival like a top-tier healer, but she is a "must-have" for fun, tactical offense. She is definitely not a collector's item; she is a war machine.

Costume & Costume Bonus

Gardered does not currently have a costume. She is effective enough in her base form that she doesn't desperately need one yet, though a costume that changes her targeting priority or ailment type could be interesting in the future.

Emblem Path Analysis

Gardered is a Fighter, giving her the chance to Revive (15% chance with full talents). This class fits her perfectly, giving her another chance to fire that devastating special.

The Slayer Build (Recommended)

• Path: Attack > Health > Defense
• Pros: Maximizes the damage of her 435% hits and her Toxin DoT (which scales off attack in many game calculations, though fixed DoT usually doesn't, tile damage definitely does). It ensures that when she hits a wing, they die.
• Cons: Leaves her slightly squishier, relying on her Fighter revive and Dodge passive to survive.

The Survivor Build

• Path: Defense > Health > Attack
• Pros: Keeps her alive longer to utilize her Deep Sleep control more often.
• Cons: Wastes her potential as a finisher. Her utility is good, but her damage is her main selling point.

Final Recommendation

For most players, the Slayer Build (Attack path) is recommended because Gardered's job is to remove threats from the board. A dead enemy cannot hurt you, and hitting a wing for ~900% effective damage (if targeting them directly) is too good to pass up.

Strengths

• Corner Control: She is one of the few heroes who can reliably shut down or kill annoying wing heroes (like Mother North or Alberich) even when targeting the tank.
• Anti-Overheal/Minion: Her Toxin becomes absolutely nuclear against modern boosted-health teams.
• Crowd Control: Deep Sleep is one of the strongest ailments in the game. It stops mana gain completely and increases damage taken.
• Flexible Targeting: Can be used as a hit-3 AoE or a single-target nuke depending on where you aim.

Weaknesses

• Positional Dependency: If the wings are dead, her "edge" damage shifts inward, but you lose the ability to snipe corners specifically if the formation is broken in weird ways.
• Sleep Fragility: Deep Sleep breaks upon taking damage. While this adds damage, it means you have to be careful not to wake them up with stray tiles if you need the mana silence to persist.
• Reflect Vulnerability: Because she targets edges automatically, she might accidentally hit a hero with Elemental Reflect (like a Blue hero with a specific buff) or a Counterattacker that you didn't intend to target.

Best Game Modes

• Alliance Wars: Excellent on offense to pick apart specific formations.
• Raids: Great for countering teams that hide passive healers in the corners.
• Events/Towers: Her Toxin is fantastic against bosses with high HP/Minions.
• Undead Horde: Her minion punishment makes her a star here.

Advanced Strategy & Team Compositions

Sample Team Ideas

1. The Sleep & Wake: Gardered + Heavy Sniper (e.g., Gefjon). Use Gardered to put wings to sleep and soften them up. Then use a sniper to hit the sleeping target for massive damage (Sleep gives +80% damage taken).
2. The Anti-Minion Squad: Gardered + Grimsteel + Viselus. If you are facing a minion-heavy team, this trio will melt them with DoT and punishment mechanics.
3. The Red Blitz: Gardered + Khufu + Boldtusk. Classic synergy. Boldtusk buffs attack, Khufu hits everyone, and Gardered cleans up the edges or snipes the survivor.

Counters & Anti-Synergies

• Counters:
  • Taunt Heroes (e.g., Ludwig, Shacklebolt): If a Taunter is active, Gardered's hits are all sucked into the Taunter. She will hit the Taunter 3 times (Target + Edge + Edge). This will likely kill the Taunter, but it prevents her from sleeping the rest of the team.
  • Ailment Immunity (e.g., Hathor, Aramis): If the enemy blocks ailments, her Toxin and Sleep do nothing, reducing her to just a damage dealer.
  • Reflectors: Hitting a glass hero or an elemental reflector on the wing can result in Gardered suiciding instantly due to the high damage she deals.
• Anti-Synergies:
  • AoE Dot Spammers: If you rely on Deep Sleep to silence enemy mana, pairing her with a hero that deals light damage to everyone (like a weak wave attack) will wake everyone up instantly, wasting the control aspect.

Advice for New Players

If you pulled Gardered early, congratulations! She is a carry hero. Focus on leveling her up immediately. Learn how her targeting works—practice hitting the corners vs. the center to see how the damage distributes. She will likely be your main boss killer for map stages thanks to her Toxin.

Advice for Veterans

She is worthy of Limit Break 2 (Alpha Aether) purely for the Attack stats. In the current meta of Toon passives and Superior Talents, having a hero that bypasses traditional defense setups by targeting geometry (edges) is useful. She is particularly valuable for breaking "Double" or "Reverse Double" formations where the "edges" might be front-line heroes.

Community Corner: Hot Takes & History

The community reaction to Gardered was overwhelmingly positive, largely due to her "refreshing" mechanic and art.

• On Gameplay: One user noted, "She sounds awesome, it would be fairly easy to keep the wing heroes asleep." Another confirmed the high damage potential: "If a taunter is up, she hits the taunter 3 times."
• On Art: "I loved everything about her! Beautiful artwork and my favorite so far."
• On Summoning: As always, the gacha gods were fickle. "Took me 45 pulls to snag her… Got Limeboire (new) and Satinpimenter (dupe) along the way."

Final Thoughts

Gardered is a beautifully designed hero who brings chaos to the rigid formations of Empires & Puzzles. She rewards smart targeting and punishes enemies who think they are safe just because they are standing in the corner. While she requires a bit more thought to use than a simple "press button, everything dies" hero, the payoff is immense. She is a Daremoth who definitely flies close to the flame, but in her case, she is the one bringing the fire.

Verdict: A fantastic addition to any red stack. Level her, emblem her, and watch the corners of the battlefield crumble.