Cleaver Talisman Guide | Hero Wars Alliance

Welcome to the final chapter of our Cleaver week, and this Cleaver Talisman Guide answers the one question every Guardian still has: which Talisman is actually best for the Butcher? After exploring his Relics, his synergies, and his complete build, we’re closing things out by comparing his two Talisman options and explaining exactly why one of them edges ahead.

How We Evaluate Cleaver’s Talismans

As always, our goal isn’t simply to pick whichever Talisman has the newest stats or the biggest numbers. Instead, we want to understand how those stats interact with Cleaver’s skills, how they support his role inside a team, and ultimately which option gives us the most complete version of the hero.

One point needs to be clear before we start. Cleaver having Relics now does not decide this comparison. Rather, we’re judging both Talismans on Cleaver himself — his skills, his role as a frontline tank, and what each option genuinely provides. With that framing in place, this Cleaver Talisman Guide begins with his first option.

Talisman of Decomposition — Strength and Health

At Level 50, the Talisman of Decomposition provides two thousand Strength as its primary stat, while Health is its secondary rerollable stat. For Cleaver, that is already an extremely natural pairing, because it lines up perfectly with what the Butcher actually wants on the frontline.

Strength Feeds Cleaver’s Physical Attack

Strength is Cleaver’s main stat, so we’re not just raising one isolated attribute. Increasing his Strength improves his Physical Attack while also reinforcing the broader attributes tied to his primary stat. That matters because several key parts of his kit scale directly from Physical Attack:

• Rusty Hook deals Pure Damage based on Physical Attack.
• His Basic Attacks also deal Pure Damage based on Physical Attack.
• Mutilation, which strikes and stuns nearby enemies, likewise deals Pure Damage based on Physical Attack.

So even though this Talisman looks purely defensive at first because of all that Health, the Strength is quietly contributing to Cleaver’s offensive output as well.

Health Fuels Survival and Putrefaction

Cleaver is a tank standing directly on the frontline, absorbing enemy pressure from the opening of the battle. Naturally, Health is one of the most valuable stats you can give him. However, with Cleaver, Health does more than simply keep the Butcher alive.

Putrefaction deals Pure Damage to Cleaver himself and nearby enemies every half second for seven seconds, and that Pure Damage scales with Cleaver’s Health. As a result, the Health from Decomposition is doing two jobs at once: it gives Cleaver a much larger safety net as a frontline tank, and it feeds directly into a skill that turns his own Health into damage. That detail becomes very important for our final decision.

Talisman of Butcher — Crushing and Toughness

At Level 50, the Talisman of Butcher provides eight thousand Crushing as its primary stat, with Toughness as its secondary rerollable stat. To be clear, this is also an excellent combination for Cleaver. In fact, when you first line the two Talismans up side by side, they’re much closer than they might appear.

Crushing gives Cleaver additional offensive potential when he’s attacking enemies below fifty percent Health. Meanwhile, Toughness gives him additional defensive protection when Cleaver himself drops below fifty percent Health, helping him hold up against opposing Crushing. In other words, this Talisman attacks the problem from both directions: when the enemy becomes vulnerable, Cleaver grows more dangerous, and when Cleaver becomes vulnerable, Toughness makes him harder to finish.

For a frontline tank that constantly takes damage, that’s an extremely logical pairing, and both Crushing and Toughness are stats we genuinely appreciate. So let’s be fair here — the Talisman of Butcher is not a bad Talisman, far from it. During our own training, Cleaver performed extremely well with either choice. There simply isn’t a huge gap where one Talisman transforms him and the other leaves him useless; in many situations, they’re close to equivalent.

Cleaver Talisman Guide — Our Final Verdict

Once we stop looking only at battle results and start examining exactly what Cleaver gains from each option, three factors push us toward the Talisman of Decomposition.

Reason 1 — Strength Works From the Start

Cleaver benefits enormously from his main stat, because more Strength means more Physical Attack. And we’ve already seen why that matters: Rusty Hook, his Pure Damage Basic Attacks, and Mutilation all scale from it. Therefore Decomposition isn’t only giving Cleaver survivability — it’s feeding directly into multiple offensive parts of his kit. Crushing can’t replicate that in quite the same way, since it becomes valuable only once the enemy falls below fifty percent Health, whereas Strength contributes from the very first moments of the fight.

Reason 2 — A Massive Health Pool for a Sacrifice Tank

Chaos revolves around sacrifice. Cleaver deliberately damages his own Health through Putrefaction while simultaneously standing on the frontline and soaking up enemy pressure, which means his Health is being attacked from two directions at once. Because of that, giving him a much larger Health pool creates enormous security — more room to absorb damage, more room to sacrifice, and more room to stay on the battlefield while Chaos builds its advantages around those sacrifice mechanics.

Better still, that additional Health doesn’t just sit there defensively. Since Putrefaction scales from Health, you gain value in both directions once more: greater survivability alongside stronger damage from Cleaver’s own mechanic. That’s a remarkably complete interaction.

Reason 3 — Decomposition Supports the Whole Battle

The third factor really ties everything together. Decomposition improves the things Cleaver fundamentally wants across the entire fight: Strength supports his main stat and Physical Attack, Physical Attack powers several of his Pure Damage skills, Health hands a frontline tank far more security, and that same Health directly supports Putrefaction. On top of that, the larger Health pool gives a sacrifice-based Chaos hero more freedom to keep spending his own life without becoming unnecessarily fragile.

By contrast, Butcher’s Crushing only becomes relevant when the enemy is below fifty percent Health, and its Toughness is tied specifically to Cleaver being below fifty percent Health against Crushing. Decomposition, on the other hand, doesn’t need either side to reach that stage before its core stats start paying off. Here’s how the two options stack up at a glance:

Should You Run Both Talismans?

Absolutely, if you can. Cleaver works beautifully with either option, and there will certainly be fights where the Crushing and Toughness from Butcher are extremely useful. That flexibility is exactly why owning multiple Talismans is valuable, since different opponents create different needs.

Still, if you’re asking the same question we answer in every episode of this series — if we have to choose one Talisman as the best overall option for Cleaver — our pick is the Talisman of Decomposition. It gives him Strength, a massive Health boost, stronger Physical Attack for several of his skills, and direct support for Putrefaction, while handing a sacrifice-based Chaos tank a much larger safety margin to do exactly what he was designed to do. For us, that complete package outweighs Butcher’s more situational Crushing and Toughness, and that’s what wraps up our Cleaver Talisman Guide and closes out the Butcher’s week — from his Relics to his synergies to his build, and now his Talismans.

Now we want to hear from you. Have you tested both Cleaver Talismans, and do your own results favor Decomposition, or have you found specific teams where Butcher’s Crushing and Toughness perform better?

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