I will say this. I started playing about 100 days ago, and I made arena a focus from day one. I was in silver by the end of my third week, and in gold by the end of my second month. Initially it was because I spent most of my time and energy putting together a decent speed nuke team (Diabolist, Spirithost, Warmaiden, Kael) with speed gear from brutal campaign. I didn’t even bother with dungeons until after I was already in silver.

However, later my progress was based entirely on luck. My matchups, especially in high silver and throughout gold, were relatively easy. I was able to complete the Iron Brago fragment fusion by winning some beginner level tournaments. I also got lucky with shard pulls (Skullcrusher and Frozen Banshee for clan boss, Uugo and Old Hermit for overall progression, and then Hegemon for arena). I even got lucky stat rolls on relentless gear thar made Uugo an insane carry. Every time I hit a wall I got a lucky break that pushed me past it.

My player level is now 63, and my player power fluctuates between 800k and 1mil depending on how many champs I have geared or leveled up at any given time. I think if I were to let myself fall back down to bronze, and try to climb up again with my original speed nuke team, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m really lucky to be in high gold still.