Look, let's be honest, welcome to another Meca Ranking for Arthdal Chronicles. On August 23, the developers dropped a brand-new sub-equipment cape packing PvP tuning stats, alongside an expanded awakening codex, increased statue level caps, and fresh events. Naturally, this pushed the average combat power of top players upward. So, how much did everyone actually gain after this patch, and who's stealing the spotlight? KookminTree dug up the numbers.

Player Cheonhacheongeom reclaims the number one spot in the all-server combat power rankings.

Top-tier combat power saw a massive jump this week. Looking at the hard numbers, the average combat power of the top 100 players skyrocketed by a staggering 4,781 points in just one single week, moving from 220,935 to 225,716. Expanding the scope to the top 101st through 500th players, the average climbed by 2,209 points from 163,407 to 165,616. At this point, even mid-tier players have mostly broken into the 5th Island of the Black Night.

The biggest driving force behind this soaring combat power is undeniably the new cape equipment. Players can acquire capes by clearing the new rift dungeon, Village Invasion Defense, and honestly, even the highest-grade equipment is surprisingly accessible for most of the player base. On top of that, the gear comes loaded with PvP attack and defense tuning stats, which are expected to heavily shake up large-scale wars.

Capes aren't the only culprits here, as the expanded awakening codex and increased statue level caps also played massive roles. The awakening codex expansion stands out the most, boosting heroic-tier and above spirit and mount awakening codexes, which handsomely rewards players who bother to complete them. Meanwhile, the statue level caps for the Statue of Growth jumped from 100 to 120, and the Statue of Penance went from 60 to 90.

So, who is the talk of the town following this update? That would be Cheonhacheongeom, the representative ranker for the First Alliance on the Yunseul server. Cheonhacheongeom boosted their combat power by an eye-watering 9,171 points over the past week, successfully snatching back the all-server number one crown. This marks the highest single-week combat power spike recorded in recent Meca Ranking data, leaving everyone wondering about the secret sauce behind such gains.

To add to the bragging rights, Cheonhacheongeom's First Alliance recently advanced to the 3rd Masters League finals, defended the Geomeuldun Fortress for 10 consecutive weeks after capturing it first, seized the Binari Basin in Total War, and topped last week's alliance raid rankings. They are delivering the kind of stellar results you would expect from the absolute pinnacle of all-server rankers, and these achievements undoubtedly fueled that massive combat power leap.

What about the all-server average combat power rankings?

Let's pivot to the all-server average combat power rankings. While average combat power surged across every single server, the actual placement order remained largely unchanged. Overall, combat power increased by a few thousand units across the board, matching the growth of top rankers. The Inaisingki server stands alone as the exception, raising its combat power by 2,900 to leapfrog the 河介山 server and claim the 10th spot.

How about the island score rankings?

Since last week wasn't a tax collection cycle, the competition for island scores wasn't nearly as cutthroat as usual. Consequently, Madwanja, a fighter from the Aramunhaesla server where things stayed relatively peaceful, grabbed the all-server top spot with 540 billion points. Hot on their heels was Melongiae, a holy knight from the Yunseul server with 505 billion points, followed closely by fellow server-mate and holy knight Cheonhacheongeom in third with 491 billion points.

What is the ranker class distribution?

Shifting gears to class distributions among the elite, statistics for the top 100 combat power holders across all servers show Assassins leading at 42%, followed by Fighters at 26%, Holy Knights at 14%, Priests at 12%, Archers at 3%, and Dangguri, Dual Swordsmen, and Stormbringers sitting at 1% each. Expanding the lens to the mid-tier bracket from rank 101 to 500, Archers take the lead at 25%, trailed by Assassins at 24%, Priests at 22.5%, Stormbringers at 19%, Fighters at 4%, Dangguri at 3%, Holy Knights at 1.5%, and Warriors and Dual Swordsmen at 0.5% each. Expect these trends to hold steady until the next class change event and balance patch shake things up.

What about the all-server alliance score rankings?

Next up, let's check out the all-server alliance score rankings for Arthdal Chronicles. Once again, the First Alliance from the Yunseul server defended its throne at number one with a massive 557.6 billion fame points. Following them, the Madman Alliance from the Aramunhaesla server secured second place with 426.4 billion points, the Nyangnyang Alliance from the same server took third with 177.1 billion points, and the 隱居 Alliance from the 秋山島 server climbed to fourth with 170.6 billion points.

Arthdal Chronicles user poll

Here are the results from last week's Meca Ranking poll, which asked, 'What do you think of the current island tax distribution system?' An overwhelming 91.89% of voters voted for change, demanding that developers shake things up. Meanwhile, a paltry 8.11% wanted things to stay exactly as they are.

Diving into the specific feedback, participants shared thoughts like, "It would be great if taxes were acquired directly through PvP," "Why not calculate rankings based on how many island bosses or event bosses an alliance defeats, similar to the Masters League, and distribute rewards accordingly?", and "It doesn't make any sense for neutral players who do nothing but farm to rake in taxes while the ruling alliances bleed out in endless wars."

Now, it's time to reveal this week's poll question. With the recent update introducing the new sub-equipment cape complete with PvP attack and defense tuning stats, expectations are high for how much it will shake up combat. So, how does it actually feel when you equip one? Can you genuinely feel a shift in how battles play out? Cast your vote, and we will reveal the results next week.