Honestly, there are heroes who just take up space. If you pay to play, like me, you can wind up with some dead-weight.
Right now my backlog includes 3x Wu, 2x Li & 2x Hu. I have no problem with one or even 2 Wu to go along with the first at 3^60; however, I see no reason for keeping any of the HuTao if I keep all my Li Xiu.
Not looking for advice on these so much as how do you all make these decisions.
I am not an event player, but more focussed on titans, raiding and AW.
I have quite a good bench of maxed 4*, but honestly i see very little reason to keep doubles generally.
For AW i prefer having all different heroes both for variability, fun, and learn new tactics.
Only exceptions are a double tibby (for intermediate event purpose, because the others are not damage dealers) and Jackal (too good compaired on Xiu, Chao or Hu tao)
Some times ago i had levelled a 2nd Xiu, but now i see it as a waste of time.
Prior to AW I would have cut bait with the Li’s, Hu’s and 2 of the 3 Wu’s.
With AW, I’d hold the Wu’s (can you imagine having 4 teams with a 3/60 or even 4/70 Wu?) for now, cut the Hu’s (slow mana is a hindrance with revenge bar), and I’d put Li in the maybe column, but maybe only keep one copy.
All depends on your roster, though, but that is how I would make the call.
Personally I have no use for heroes like Tao or Skittleskull, not for raids and definitely not for defense…However…Your needs/wants/strategies change over time…I remember when going against a defense that had Hu Tao made me want to re-roll…lol I remember Bane was my strongest hero and I loved him, until I got Chao, then he was my big gun. Along came Joon and I never looked back. There are still some heroes that withstand the test of time for general purposes, i.e. Li Xiu. I recently went up against a team of Cyprian as a center tank flanked by two Lis. I can’t even remember the corner hero as I had suck a hard time with the center alone. Also, I have no maxed slow heroes. They don’t fit my style. Yet, I still keep one Little John, why ? Shoot, no clue. Normally I get rid of these seemingly “useless” heroes that don’t fit my portfolio as soon as I have better options… 4 Jackals 4 Falcons 3 Grimms 3 Zeline’s Oh Yeah now you’re talking…
Chao. Fast vs Average, but Li Xiu lowers mana of entire team while Chao is just a single target. I’d level 5 more jackals before I would touch him.
Boomer is another one that’s pretty useless IMO. I took mine to 3/60 and can’t justify the mats to take him to max, his AoE attach does little to help an offensive team and with such a low Attack he can’t even make up for it in tile dmg.
I guess this isn’t the true spirit of the thread as I did keep him and level him partially. Chao will probably sit lvl 1 forever though…
Just gotta raise my hand for Chao here 
. No, he isn’t the best 4* yellow, but he is definitely better than his reputation. In my opinion, he is the best 4* yellow hero obtainable from training camps after Wu Kong for everyday duty (titan, raiding, events).
Chao was on the same list with Hu and Li when my roster started building, but there was a huge cry from the forum not to feed him to Leo.
Some were hoarders, but most cited the then imminent AW as reason to keep him. Well, I kept him, and he has performed well in AW. His niche, though, is in lower level farming.
From finding that use for Chao, I believe it shows me there is no team where Hu will have a place other than 4th or 5th attack team in AW. And that spot will go away as roster improves.
I second that. Hu Tao is quite useless, being slow and having low damage.
Agreed, hu deserves an attack boost seeing as he is a slow aoe.
Ok, Talisax just ruined my plan. He asked the devs to buff the panda; if I feed him now I will get told you so’ed by all the horders whose excuse has always been you never know if they will buff a bad hero.
Yup I am keeping at least one of every hero. Have all 3, all 4 but chao and am working on 5s, but that is not progressing well.
I really must ask “WHY!?!”.
Do you think the devs are going to get their wily little minds behind a new sales gimmick like an event that requires min 90 heroes for when AW’s 30 min is no longer moving gems?
Thar be insanity
I do currently have 90 heroes tagged as favorite. But that includes a lot of 3* for events.
I’m keeping doubles of 4* fast strikers, armor debuffers, good event heroes and healers.
Oh, and Wu. Have two, will keep at least one more. Storage space is relatively cheap.
Good heroes with a purpose is correct. This is often lost in the forums when new players a hit over the head with a “mantra” of keep everything.
AW is not for beginners. Teaching how to identify the usefullness, and for lack of a better term, shelf-life of heroes. Space IS cheap, but there is no need for it before certains levels are reached.
Play for fun players will be a long time in needing mats, so mentioning events is just encouraging them to waste precious resources. And AW is a distraction. Even an alliance can hold them back.
Please let people know culling even a small herd can be deemed necessary.
I guess it’s a good problem to have when you get to decide to cull excess Hu Taos when needing 30 heroes for Alliance Wars.
I’ll be keeping my Hu for some time… he’ll only really come in to the frame to consume when all my 3* are gone. (Some 3* I maaaaay consider in favour of Hu, but not many. They’re just too squishy).
3* heroes will be a bit squishy, but the 2*s they are attacking are praying for arrows
I’ll second the thoughts on Boomer. His defense buff is the best thing about him; his AoE attack is a bad joke, like splashing a little kid in the pool. However, he is kinda tanky, and I had no other 4* purple to work with. So I got him to tier 4, level 4, and got Sabina, followed hours later by Cyprian. Boomer hasn’t been touched since. I will eventually finish leveling him when I have exhausted literally every other hero.
Agreed about Hu Tao but the attack debuff is pretty sweet. Takes too long to get there though, and he is weak as a kitten otherwise.
I’m keeping the heroes I have because I have them. There are certain heroes I’m “meh” about, but the Devs have upgraded low yield heroes before, so I keep them too.
Not terribly wild about HuTao. I have two LiXiu because those are the only yellow 4* the game gods have seen fit to grace me with.
Your point about new players and AW is taken, but I’m still going to tell new folks not to throw stuff…or they’ll be kicking themselves later. Not everyone has the wallet (or luck) to get replacements. 
With or without wallet, luck is past huge.
Players do not necessarily want to hear you have to spend money, but much of the advice comes from those who paid past huge.
My spend is above my budgetted cost, but the VIP was unexpected. I want to tell players spending a dollar a day is a good basic plan as a way to catch the top 100, but it may start a storm.
Even with my own buying, saving every hero would have held me back. So I just ask for a broader caveat…ok.
I dont cut down until i dont have at least 10 spots for feeders. Then i cut down by eating the heros i dont use at all. Dup or not, if u dont use it and dont need it and u have 30 heros u like better in wars, titans, and raids then eat away. I would suggest feeding 4* and 3* heros to either 5* heros or heros that have maxed special skill. Dont eat any hero u might use/need tho. Only you know which heros that could be based on how you play and what you’re focuses and team needs are