While playing Monster Train 2 with different clans, you can also unlock an alternate champion apart from the starter one by simply leveling up the clan to level five.
Unlike starter champions in Monster Train 2, alternate ones bring a variety of different playstyles with your existing clan units. As they are very different from their counterpart in the clan, they open the door for more synergies with other clans in the game to help make better decks to take down the titans and finish your runs across different covenants.
Best Monster Train 2 champions, ranked
Alternate champions have different passive abilities, but as they’re still a part of the five existing clans in Monster Train 2. It makes it easier to get familiar with the champion’s unique playstyle as they follow the clan’s same spells and units to pair them up with different clans.
Apart from the starter and alternate champion, you can also make your decks with the original five clans of Monster Train by unlocking Pyre Hearts. But for this list, we’ll stick to the five original alternate champions that you can get from all the new clans in Monster Train 2:
Baron Gael
While his father, Orechi, loves performing experiments to create mixes to help the team, Baron Gael takes a slightly more chaotic approach to secure his damage. The champion’s best passive is It Hungers, as it makes you understand why the clan has so many low-health but high-attack assistant units. While with Orechi in the Lazarus League, you would protect these precious assistants and keep them in the backline to inflict high damage, this champion flips that playing style to consume those units by using his Devour ability and gain their attack power.
As you level up the passive through upgrades, you can double the gained damage on your champion, and it gives him so much firepower that he can neutralize bosses on the first floor itself. You can also consider passives like Living Armory, which gives attack damage to your nearby allies while wearing a piece of equipment, but it isn’t that effective.
Best Allied Clan: The Banished for stacking valor and Underlegion for getting those tanky units to help soak the damage, helping the champion stay away from harm.
Arduhn
Arduhn is the ultimate moon-lover who takes his moon cycles very seriously. While he cares little about conduits in the Luna Coven, the moon cycles are critical to make him stronger. He also has a permanent Mageblade, whose damage scales according to the magic. We’d recommend that you take the Mystic Hammer passive ability on him, which drastically increases his base attack damage to 50-100-150 across different levels during the full moon phase.
Now, you might think that you wouldn’t have an unlimited supply of Moon Ritual spells to always make it full moon, and that’s where you’ll have his Shadowcast ability come in, allowing you to make a full moon phrase at your will to bring the odds in your favor. You can also go for Hierophant for a safer build to provide armour for your units and silence the enemy. If you want to opt for a strict conduit build, then consider Battleborne to slowly gain conduits over time.
Best Allied Clan: Lazarus League for buffing him further using mixes and Underlegion to secure those tanky units to keep him safe.
Madame Lionsmane
The decay queen is all about weakening her enemies and bringing them to her knees. I’ve won so many runs already with her Maneater passive ability, and honestly, there is simply no competition as it’s just that good. It is a one-turn cooldown ability that applies Sap and Decay to the enemy. If you upgrade the ability once, it allows you to even mute the enemy, making boss fights a piece of cake. You can also use it to shut down small annoying backline enemy threats to nullify their passives.
Apart from that, if you want to take an all-in decay build, then you can also take the Sporesinger, which increases the decay stacks on the enemy to wither them down slowly. If you need a beefy champion, summon your army of Funguy by getting the Everbloom passive.
Best Allied Clan: Lazarus League for getting the unstable mixes that synergize the best with the decay, along with Pyreborne, where you can use the clan’s burst damage through its spells to eliminate the smaller targets and spread the decay among enemy units.
Talos
If you have commitment issues and often change your plans at the last minute, Talos has got you covered. Unlike Fel, she doesn’t have a permanent multistrike, but she has the Flight ability, which allows you to seamlessly change her position across the floors. This brings a massive strategic retreat and a positioning advantage to her, which can change the dynamic of the fights.
You can pair with Ascend Above spells and send entire units to the upper floors to plan better. In terms of passive, I’ve found Battle Cleric is very useful to gain valor for your allies, but the Enchantress passive is also good to permanently add stats for your team after the battle.
Best Allied Clan: The Banished, as it synergizes well with the valor buffs and the Luna Coven, as you can shift many allies into the middle floor and make it a conduit powerhouse.
Lady Gilda
If you want a champion obsessed with coins whose spells and units have Avarice to make everything into money for you, Lady Gilda is the dragon champion for you. With the passive Lady Avarice, she can make a bank from her unit’s damage on the enemy every time they or you strike them. However, this doesn’t help much in direct combat, so Bloat Matron might be your best offensive bet, where she applies Pyregel on enemies after one’s elimination while also making whelps cost one amber less.
Money is crucial for purchasing units, spells, rooms, and equipment. But if you have a team that is giving you so many coins that you can’t spend, then you’re bound to have a solid squad to take down the harder bosses in the run.
Best Allied Clan: Underlegion to get those tanky units to keep her safe while she farms money, and the Banished to get powerful buffs to beef up your army.
Next up, you can read our guides to know about all Monster Train 2 achievements and if it’s available on Game Pass.
