Be the Boss
If you’re looking to climb the ranks in RAID: Shadow Legends, few things matter more than your performance against the Clan Boss. This fight is the heart of your clan activity—it gives you some of the best rewards in the game, including shards, books, potions, and high-end gear like Lifesteal and Cruel sets.
But to truly benefit from it, you need to build a team that can last as long as possible while dealing solid damage. That means choosing the right champions, gearing them correctly, and ensuring your team works together like a well-oiled machine.
In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to build a Clan Boss team that can go the distance—even reach Ultra-Nightmare difficulty over time.
1. Understand the Clan Boss Mechanics First
Before building your team, you need to understand how the Clan Boss works.
- The Clan Boss (CB) fights on a fixed rotation and gets stronger as the difficulty increases (Easy → Normal → Hard → Brutal → Nightmare → Ultra-Nightmare).
- He uses debuffs like Stun, Poison, and Decrease ATK.
- He applies Affinity changes starting at Brutal difficulty. This affects which champions do better or worse depending on their affinity.
- Every turn you survive, the boss gets stronger—so long-lasting teams deal more damage.
Your goal is simple: deal as much damage as possible before your team wipes out. That means building around survival, synergy, and scaling damage.
2. Key Roles in a Clan Boss Team
A strong Clan Boss team usually includes five core roles. Some champions can fill more than one at a time. Here they are:
1. Ally Attack or Counterattack
- Why it matters: More attacks mean more chances to place debuffs and more total damage.
- Best champions:
- Martyr, Valkyrie, or Skullcrusher (Counterattack)
- Lanakis the Chosen, Kreela Witch-Arm, Catacomb Councilor (Ally Attack)
If you don’t have one of these early on, you can survive without them—but your damage will be noticeably lower.
2. Decrease ATK Debuffer
- Why it matters: The Clan Boss hits hard. This debuff reduces his damage drastically and is non-negotiable at higher difficulties.
- Best champions:
- Tayrel, Duchess Lilitu, Warmaiden, Stag Knight, Frozen Banshee
Make sure the Decrease ATK debuff is consistent and always up.
3. Poisoner
- Why it matters: Poison debuffs are the highest source of sustained damage in Clan Boss fights.
- Best champions:
- Frozen Banshee, Kael, Occult Brawler, Venomage, Ninja
Avoid using multiple Poisoners with conflicting debuff priorities. It’s better to have one really effective Poisoner than three inconsistent ones.
4. Speed Booster / Turn Meter Control
- Why it matters: More turns = more damage, better uptime on your buffs, and more healing. The whole fight depends on keeping the team moving fast and in sync.
- Best champions:
- Apothecary, High Khatun, Deacon Armstrong, Seeker
Speed tuning becomes even more important in unkillable teams (we’ll get there in a minute).
5. Healer / Sustain / Support
- Why it matters: The longer your team survives, the more damage it deals. You need someone who can keep your health up or reduce incoming damage.
- Best champions:
- Doompriest, Bad-el-Kazar, Vrask, Brogni, Pain Keeper
If you don’t have strong healing, Lifesteal gear becomes even more important to keep your champions alive.
3. Choose a Strategy: Traditional vs. Unkillable
There are two primary types of Clan Boss teams: traditional survival teams and unkillable teams.
Traditional Team
This is what most players use early to mid-game. You rely on Lifesteal gear, healing, debuffs, and buffs to stay alive as long as possible.
Pros:
- Works with many rare champions
- Easy to build
- No need to worry about speed tuning too much
Cons:
- Has a damage ceiling
- Eventually can’t keep up on Nightmare/Ultra-Nightmare without top gear
Unkillable Team
These teams use abilities like Unkillable or Block Damage on a tight rotation to become literally unkillable.
Pros:
- Can survive to turn 50 (maximum) consistently
- Much higher damage potential
Cons:
- Requires exact speed tuning (can be tricky)
- Needs specific champions like Maneater, Pain Keeper, or Roshcard the Tower
If you have two Maneaters, you can build the famous “Double Maneater” (Budget Unkillable) team. If not, look for one of the other popular unkillable setups like Batman Forever, Tower of Power, or Infinity comp.
4. Gear Your Champions for Survivability and Damage
Clan Boss is gear-intensive, and your success depends on using the right sets and substats.
Best Gear Sets
- Lifesteal: Essential for traditional teams without strong healing
- Speed: Helps with turn meter tuning and getting more turns
- Cruel or Offense: Great for increasing damage
- Toxic: Can be used on non-Poisoners to boost poison output
- Relentless: Risky but can add serious damage
Stat Priorities
- Speed: You want all your champs going as fast as possible
- Accuracy: Crucial for debuffers (aim for 200+ on Ultra-Nightmare)
- HP/DEF: Helps you survive longer
- Crit Rate/Crit Damage: Once you’re surviving long enough, boost these for more damage
Pro tip: Don’t chase 100% Crit Rate on everyone right away—it’s more important to stay alive and land your debuffs.
5. Learn the Basics of Speed Tuning
Speed tuning means setting your champions’ speeds so they always go in the correct order, and buffs/debuffs don’t fall off or overlap.
Why Speed Tune?
- Ensures Counterattack or Unkillable buffs stay up at the right time
- Prevents key abilities from going on cooldown too early
- Maximizes uptime on Decrease ATK and Poison
How to Tune
Use tools like DeadwoodJedi’s Clan Boss calculator to input your champs’ speeds and skill cooldowns. It will help you find the correct speed range for your team’s comp (especially important for Unkillable teams).
If you don’t want to go that deep yet, just make sure:
- Your speed booster is the fastest
- Your debuffer goes before your nuker
- You avoid speed overlaps where buffs might fall off early
6. Fine-Tune Your Masteries
Masteries matter a lot for Clan Boss—especially when you get to tier 6.
Offense Tree
Take:
- Warmaster (best for sustained boss damage)
- Crit Rate, Crit Damage, Attack
- Bring It Down, Methodical
Support Tree
Take:
- Master Hexer (extends debuffs)
- Sniper (increases chance to land debuffs)
- Lore of Steel (if using sets like Speed/Lifesteal)
Avoid anything that increases Turn Meter randomly (like Cycle of Revenge) if you’re speed tuned—it can break your setup.
7. Test, Track, and Improve
Your Clan Boss team isn’t “done” the moment you assemble it. You’ll need to:
- Test multiple runs to see if debuffs stay up consistently
- Track your damage output—aim for at least:
- 6M per key on Hard
- 10M+ per key on Brutal
- 15-20M+ per key on Nightmare
- 30M+ per key on Ultra-Nightmare for 1-key
- Swap champions or adjust gear to fix weak links
- Farm Clan Boss every day for gear, books, and shards
8. Sample Starter Teams (Traditional)
F2P Friendly Example
- Kael (Poisoner)
- Apothecary (Speed boost and heals)
- Warmaiden (Decrease DEF and ATK)
- Frozen Banshee (Poisoner)
- High Khatun (Turn meter boost)
Mid-Game Budget Example
- Skullcrusher (Counterattack)
- Frozen Banshee
- Doompriest
- Tayrel
- Occult Brawler
Remember—if you get Maneater or Pain Keeper, you can start transitioning to unkillable setups.
Final Thoughts
Building a great Clan Boss team takes patience, but the rewards are worth it.
Focus on:
- Getting all the key roles covered (Poison, Decrease ATK, Support, Speed)
- Improving your gear gradually
- Speed tuning if you’re going for Unkillable teams
- Testing and tracking your results to push for better damage
Over time, your Clan Boss team will go from dealing a few million to one-keying Ultra-Nightmare—and that’s when the real rewards roll in.
Keep grinding, keep experimenting, and don’t forget to check your daily keys. The Clan Boss is one of the best investments you can make in RAID: Shadow Legends.