Back on August 26, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad introduced a Hard mode to the 'Altar of the Abyss: Kraken of the Iron Islands Coast (hereafter referred to as the Kraken Raid)'. For the past week, the difficulty of this Hard mode was locked to 'Nightmare', and quite a few rankers have taken up the challenge. Now, it is time to see how all of that turned out, mate.

73% of Top 100 Cleared the Altar of the Abyss

First off, the number of players who cleared the Nightmare difficulty came to 73 across the Altar of the Abyss rankings. Simple math tells us that roughly 73% of each ranking server managed to conquer the Nightmare difficulty. The average clear time clocked in at 9 minutes and 29 seconds, while the absolute fastest time was a blistering 3 minutes and 51 seconds—truly a phenomenal raiding speed.

When looking at the class distribution, the fortunes were starkly contrasted. Mercenaries saw a rather lackluster showing with only 18 players making the cut, whereas Knights boasted nearly double that with 32 players on the board. This presumably boils down to the Knight class's notoriously intuitive and reliable skill management. As the raid patterns got trickier, it seems the stats reflect a growing preference for classes that have the upper hand in mechanic handling and survival.

As a quick heads-up, the September 2 update wrapped up the Nightmare difficulty of Hard mode and transitioned operations over to the Hell difficulty. It still demands a Momentum requirement of 200,000 for entry, and with the second-week event still ongoing, you might want to give it a proper go.

A Mercenary Reaches the Number One Spot for the First Time Since Data Collection Began

For the very first time since the ranking data began tracking, a Mercenary class clinched the number one spot in the Momentum rankings. The player in question sat at a Momentum of 335,692 at the time of data collection. That is a solid jump of about 32,801 in just a single week, coming up from 302,891 the previous week.

On the flip side, looking past the number one spot, the struggle of the Mercenary class in the Top 100 continues unabated. They lingered at a mere 21% pick rate this week, failing to break past the 25% mark for several weeks running now. Considering that the Knight class commands a hefty 43% pick rate, the gap is quite astronomical. While recent balance tweaks certainly made the gameplay feel smoother, it seems they have yet to be adopted as the go-to main class for the player base.

Solidified Skill Builds Among the Upper Echelons

Following the tier expansion in the previous update, there was a temporary shift in skill builds, but things have quickly settled back into their usual places. This is largely because the vast majority of top-tier players swiftly re-tuned the engraving effects of their primary skills. Given that engraving setups demand a hefty investment of both time and currency, this current configuration looks locked in unless we see some drastically radical balance adjustments.

That said, the Mercenary class still leaves a bit of room for experimentation. While the gauntlet skills 'Uppercut' and 'Barrage' have been locked in, deliberation is still ongoing for that final slot. 'Assault' looks like a strong contender for the third skill, but the adoption rate gap with its rival skill 'Charge' remains razor-thin, making the final outcome quite intriguing to watch.

Relic compositions are also expected to tread water for a while. Although the September 2 update brought in the brand-new relic 'Crown of the Winter Rose', growing it takes no small amount of time. Even if one were to max it out, its defense-heavy effects make it rather unlikely to shake up the established relic setup meta anytime soon.