Welcome back to another edition of [Meca Ranking] for Arthdal Chronicles. Word from the developers suggests we are about to see the addition of the 'Black Night 5th Archipelago' to the unified field, and it seems our top-tier players are already losing sleep in a desperate scramble to level up. Let's dive into the current state of the high-level ladder, courtesy of KookminTree's data crunching.

Top Rankers Obsessed with the 5th Archipelago Grind

As of the 18th, Arthdal Chronicles teased the arrival of the Black Night 5th Archipelago in the 23rd update. This new zone is home to mobs ranging from level 125 to 131—all of which are aggressive by nature. Survival here requires serious preparation, which explains why our top-tier players have been grinding like their lives depend on it, pushing average faction scores higher than ever.

Take, for instance, 'Cheonhacheongeom' from the Aramunhaesla 2 server, who has recently climbed to the top of the global rankings. They have been relentlessly farming over the past week, racking up a staggering 22.35 billion faction points. It is safe to assume that a mountain of experience points came along with that impressive score.

Then we have 'Michinja' from the Yunseul 1 server and 'Daesama' from the Irae 2 server. Michinja, in particular, made a cheeky class swap from Warrior to Saint during the recent event, which seems to have paid off. It appears the Saint class offers superior grinding efficiency, and they are now firmly focused on hitting level 110.

Daesama also clocked in an impressive 18.38 billion faction points this past week. While their main class is Dual Blade, they cleverly switch to Archer for farming—the classic 'work hard, play hard' approach to war and grinding. At 109 level and 75.8% progress, they are looking to be the third player globally to break the 110-level barrier.

As for combat power, 'Heukkisado' of Aramunhaesla 1 saw a massive jump of 4,819 points, the highest among the elite. Seeing numbers like that at the top end is frankly absurd. Others like Michinja (+1,300), SuperGorapaduck (+1,233), Michinge (+2,423), BlackCoffee (+2,555), Kkomahyung (+2,842), and RubyQueen (+1,201) also saw their rankings climb.

What about the server average combat power?

Looking at the server-wide averages, the status quo remains mostly unchanged. Almost every server bumped their average combat power by 1,000 to 2,000. Notable spikes were seen in Isodeunyeong 2, Irae 3, Siaru 2, Daraburu 3, Momo 1, and Aramunhaesla 1.

How does the class distribution look for our rankers?

Shifting gears to class demographics: among the top 100 players, Storm Wizard leads at 22%, followed by Archer (20%), Saint (19%), Priest (14%), Warrior (12%), Fighter (7%), and Dual Blade (6%). If we widen the net to the top 500 (106,247+ CP), the meta shifts: Storm Wizard (29.4%), Priest (22.8%), Archer (17.6%), Saint (7.8%), Warrior (7.4%), Dual Blade (7%), Fighter (6%), and Dangri (2%).

What about the Alliance Score rankings?

For alliances, the 'Dooly' alliance from Isodeunyeong 2 continues to dominate with 92.83 billion points. They are followed by 'Daehan' (82.19 billion) and 'Minguk' (79.02 billion) from Isodeunyeong 1. Unless there is a point reset, this hierarchy is likely to stay set in stone for a while.

Arthdal Chronicles User Poll

Last week, we asked: 'What do you think about the 800% drop rate boost event for the Sun Temple?' A clear 68.42% preferred farming in the Fox Flower Snowy Plains or the Archipelago. Common complaints included: 'I honestly couldn't tell the difference,' 'You can't get faction points in the Temple,' and 'There's nothing worth looting there besides the tokens.'

Now, for this week's topic: Netmarble has teased a massive December update featuring everything from the Black Night 5th Archipelago to new solo Rift Dungeons. Which of these are you looking forward to the most? Cast your vote, and we will reveal the results next week.