Raid: Shadow Legends Review - Fantasy jazz, but with more swords (and spreadsheets).
My First Death Was Glorious (And Sponsored by Kael)
I knew what I was getting into. Everyone knows Raid: Shadow Legends even if you've never touched it, you’ve probably seen an orc try to sell you energy potions on YouTube. Still, I figured it was time to find out if there was more here than meme ads and polygonal pecs.
So I downloaded it. Booted it up on both PC and mobile. Gave myself the full, unfiltered, grind-’til-you-cry experience. And wow, was I not prepared for how deep this game actually is.
Picking My Poison (aka Kael Is the Real MVP)
The game opens with a flashy cutscene that looks like someone poured Mountain Dew on a Dungeons & Dragons campaign and gave it a Hollywood budget. Dragons, betrayal, an elf getting absolutely obliterated it’s like the opening of a fantasy soap opera.
Then boom, you’re tossed into the classic “pick your starter champion” moment. There are four choices, but real ones know there’s only one: Kael. Poison God. Dungeon King. The guy looks like he smells like burnt mana and regret. I love him.
My first hour was basically hand-holding. Tap here, upgrade this, go there. Raid doesn’t trust you with freedom until you’ve proven you can follow bright arrows and click the big green button. But once you clear that initial “Hall Monitor” phase, the world opens up.
Shiny Toys and Endless Menus
Let me be real with you: this game is a UI fever dream. There are menus inside of menus inside of pop-ups. I found a Champion Vault I didn’t even know I had. There’s a Tavern where you sacrifice heroes for XP, a Forge for crafting gear sets, and enough currencies to make the euro look stable.
But here’s the thing—they all matter. Every sub-system feeds into another. You want to beat the Clan Boss? Better build your team with synergy, speed tuning, and gear optimization. Want to clear Spider’s Den? Hope you like champions that can burn spiders and heal on the fly. Raid demands planning. It rewards the spreadsheet warriors.
And yeah, there’s auto-battle. A lot of it. You’ll use it. Don’t pretend you won’t.
The First Real Fight (And Learning About Speed Tuning the Hard Way)
After a few hours of cruising through Campaign mode, upgrading Kael like he’s my green-skinned son, I hit a wall. Stage 7. I got obliterated by some skeleton with a sword longer than my self-esteem.
Turns out, just leveling up isn’t enough. You need to manage gear stats, turn order, and—God help us all—speed tuning. Speed tuning is Raid’s version of ballet choreography. Your champions need to act in just the right order or everything falls apart.
I didn’t even know what a “speed aura” was until this point. I do now. I respect it. I fear it.
I Accidentally Ate My Epic
Day three. I pulled an Epic from a random shard. Was I thrilled? Absolutely. Did I know what she did? Nope. Did I feed her into Kael for XP because I thought she looked weak? Also yes.
Cue me realizing she was A-tier for Arena and would’ve carried my mid-game. I screamed. Quietly. Into my pillow. This is what Raid does—it lures you in with free rewards, then punishes your ignorance with a smirk.
Lesson learned: always check tier lists before clicking “Upgrade.”
Arena: Where Wallets Go to War
PvP in Raid is brutal. The Arena is where F2P dreams go to die—or at least get trampled by players with six-star Legendaries and deep wallets.
But it’s not hopeless. There’s strategy. Counter-picking. Speed races. If you build your team smart (and know when to not even bother), you can climb the ranks without spending a dime. Slowly. Painfully. Like growing out bangs.
I found myself checking back every few hours just to optimize my defense and snipe a few easy wins. It’s addictive in that “just one more match” kind of way.
Clan Boss: A Love-Hate Relationship
The Clan Boss is the communal punching bag you and your clanmates fight every day. He’s big, ugly, and hits like a regretful parent. You bring your best team, try to stack debuffs, and pray your champions survive long enough to matter.
This is where Raid’s complexity shines. Building a team that can survive, deal damage, and manipulate turn meter? That’s chef’s kiss levels of strategic depth. It's also where gear grind hits hardest. If you don’t have good artifact sets, you’re basically throwing pebbles at a dragon.
Still, watching your damage counter tick up into the millions? Chef. Freakin’. Kiss.
The Grind Wall is Real
Let’s talk about energy. You burn it fast. You get a lot at first, but soon you’ll be rationing it like it’s bottled water in a wasteland.
There’s also the grind to 6-star your champions, level their gear, farm Masteries, ascend them, find rare potions, and get lucky with shard pulls. It’s like a full-time job with worse benefits. But if you’re the kind of player who loves building, tweaking, and seeing long-term growth, it’s deeply satisfying.
Just don’t expect to power through it in a weekend. This game is a marathon, not a sprint. And probably not a F2P marathon unless you really, really like spreadsheets.
Moments That Made It Worth It
- My first 4-star gear set drop from Dragon’s Lair. I took a screenshot. I’m not ashamed.
- Watching Kael land triple poison stacks and melt a boss’s health bar like fondue.
- Beating a whale team in Arena because I speed-tuned my support champ. Vindication.
Raid has a funny way of making you feel clever—even when you’re just following a guide someone else wrote. And when your plan works? Feels so good.
Final Thoughts
I came in expecting a glorified ad game. I left three weeks later wondering if I needed to join a Discord to optimize my Clan Boss runs.
Raid: Shadow Legends might be flashy, grindy, and monetized like a slot machine. But it’s also deep, strategic, and surprisingly satisfying if you’re willing to do your homework (and maybe check a few Reddit threads along the way).
This game isn’t for everyone. But if you love planning over button mashing, and you're not afraid to be humbled by a giant fire knight wearing six belts and zero logic, you might just fall in love with it.
Just… don’t feed your Epics. Ever.