SoC has two competitive modes. Duel of the Fittest is an always-available asynchronous ladder — you set a defence, the game runs your attacks against other players' defences. Voice of Sabbath is a periodic real-time event with a ban-and-draft phase before the match. Exact rules, maps and available units shift each season, so this guide covers the structure and the drafting principles rather than a fixed unit list — cross-check the current season's rules in-game.
Duel of the Fittest — the async ladder
You build a defence team and the game resolves both your attacks and other players' attacks on your defence automatically. Because the AI plays it out, your defence has to win without a human steering it — comps that need precise sequencing underperform on defence.
It's always open and pays weekly rank rewards. Even if you don't push, clearing your free attack attempts each week for the participation and rank rewards is worth it — the currency buys pull and upgrade materials.
Attack is where the points are. Scout each defence, bring the counter, and use your retries.
Building a Duel defence
Front an unkillable or highly protective Defender (SP Alexei, Arman) so the AI can't collapse your line on turn one.
Bulk auto-damage over setup: units that just do strong damage on their normal turn (counter units, aura DPS, self-sufficient carries) beat units that need a specific combo the AI won't execute.
One disruptive support — a taunt, a heavy debuff, a heal — is usually better on defence than a second damage dealer, because it makes the attacker's plan misfire.
Avoid a defence that depends on going first. Speed advantage swings between attacker and defender, so anything that only works from turn-one initiative is unreliable.
Attacking in Duel
Read the enemy defence before you lock your team. Note their Defender, their damage threat and any obvious combo.
Bring the counter: piercing damage into a shield-stacked defence, a dispel into a buff-stacked one, burst + turn control into a slow bruiser line.
Kill or disable the enemy's biggest threat on your first turn using the timeline. If the defence has a back-line caster, bring a Seeker to reach it turn one.
Use your retries — a fresh scout of the same defence with a tweaked opening clears a lot of fights the first attempt lost.
Voice of Sabbath — the drafted event
Voice of Sabbath is real-time and drafted. Before the match there's a ban phase — each side removes units from the shared pool — then a pick phase, then you play the battle out yourself rather than letting the AI resolve it.
Bans are the game. Ban the units that are format-warping this season (usually the top turn-control support and the safest unkillable tank) or the units you personally have no answer to — not just 'the strongest unit'.
In the pick phase, secure a support and a Defender before a second carry. Flexible picks that answer several enemy comps beat a greedy pick that only works if the opponent cooperates.
Because you play it live, sequencing comps that fail on Duel defence are viable here — turn-order manipulation, precise burst windows, and TP timing all pay off.
What carries PvP right now
Turn control and speed manipulation — moving your unit up the timeline or pushing the enemy's down decides fights before damage is a factor.
Dispel — PvP teams stack buffs and shields; a support that strips them on demand is close to mandatory at rank.
Piercing damage — the same shift that hit PvE: stacked-shield defences don't care about raw AoE.
A tank that doesn't need babysitting — a protection or unkillable Defender lets your carries act instead of surviving.
See the Tier List for where individual units land; PvP-relevant placements call it out in the note.