Hello, I apologise becasuse this will be a long post. I’ll try to hide the less relevant information, and thanks in advance to those reading this thread.
First, I'll explain what kind of player I am.
I am a middle platinum, level 43 player, about 2000 cups and with roughly a 3800 max TP. My alliance fights 8-9 titans (mostly 9) and we use purple tank in war. I’m a pure F2P player, too.
Right now, I am debating wether to ascend Sabina or not, I’m building my first 5☆ team and I’m considering my general roster strategy in the middle and long term game. So my questions are three, but each has many factors to be considered:
1 Should I ascen Sabina?
2 What would be the best 5☆ (rainbow) team to ascend, with my current heroes.
3 How do you plan your roster, when you got 3 3☆ rainbow teams (and some more) and almos 3 4☆ rainbow teams?
About ascending Sabina
Reasons to ascend her.
a) Improve my purple stak with a dispeller.
My purple stak: Ursena 4/80 +6 (so no emblems for Sabina), costume Ridgard 4/70 +16, Tib 4/70 and Proteus 4/70; plus Merlin, Gafar and the said Sabina at 3/60.
b) Have a 6th healer for war.
My current maxed healers are: costume Ridgard +16, costume Bold +14, Kashreek 4/70, Melendor 4/70 and Kiril at 4/51 and going up.
Reasons not to ascend her.
a) Heavy competition for compasses and trap tools.
Gafar 3/60, Merlin 3/60, second Tib slightly ascended and untouched Boomer, Stonecleave, second Ridgar and second Proteus. Also 5☆: Grimble 2/17 and untouched Domitia and Obakan.
b) She is very frail. I already got Melendor, and he dies a lot on my.
Also, I must consider:
I already have dispell.
Maxed Caedmon, Sonya and Melendor.
My other healer options
4☆ second Bold and second Ridgard. 5☆ Puss in boots and Anzogh.
About my first 5☆ rainbow team.
Ursena is my tank. She is already maxed and +6. My other purples are Grimble, Domitia and Obakan, but they should wait.
Yellow: either Drake or Neith. Neith seems bad considered, but is used by top deffense teams. I don’t know.
Red: Anzogh, Puss in boots and Marjana. Anzogh and Puss are healers, but not top healers, and if I was ever going to consider a red tank, they are competing with this:
Blue: Thorne.
Green: 6 tonics, no heroes.
About planning my roster.
I got enough 3☆ and 4☆ to at least 3 stak in each colour, but on yellow 4☆ (I only have Wu, but I’m not waiting, given my weird luck: 4 TC20 5☆, 2 HOTM, 2 past HOTM, 1 Atlantis 5☆, 1 event 5☆… not even a Hu Tao?! 
)
So, I decided to work on my first 5☆ rainbow team, aiming to improve my deffense war team, and my general roster. I got 3 tomes, 3 blades and I’m more or less close on the rest: 6 tonics, 6 scopes, 5 rings, 3 darts (and hey, 2 tabards after Ursena 
). But… what after that?
I was thinking that, as I would have to wait a lot to ascen a second or third set of 5☆ (wait for the materials and the heroes), I should bring little by little dupe 4☆ to 3/60 and ascend some interesting 3☆, but that from now on I should be much more picky with the 4☆ I fully ascend. But I don’t find many feedback in the forum about this specific topic, so what are your thoughs?
Well, I think this cover the main issues, many thanks for readin (partially or the whole thingh) and good gaming.
You have a good roster and a good approach with your leveling and teambuilding.
On Sabina: I would skip her for now, for the various reasons you stated:
- I think you stack 3/2 rather than mono, and you have enough dispelers in other colors.
- 2nd Rigard would be great, he’s a sturdier healer and his cleanse is very rare. But Gafar and Merlin are also both nice, they give you Purple single-target attackers. Merlin and Proteus together are scary, Proteus mana blocks 3 while Merlin disables a 4th. But Gafar is fast and is great for field aid wars.
On rainbow team: note, I don’t have most of your heroes so I would give more weight to more experienced players 
But my opinion:
Personally, Drake over Neith. Drake’s faster speed makes a big difference on defense in my opinion, and he still hits and blinds 3.
For the Reds, I only have Marjana among your 3. I think she’s quite solid and would make a good first Red. And you already have a good tank in Ursena, so ascending a Red hitter would give you variety. Although, Anzogh and BT have some nice synergy too for stacking…
That could give you a rainbow defense of Caedmon / Thorne / Ursena / Drake / Marjana. Marj is Rogue so goes in wing, Caed in wing because fast mana + dispel.
good luck!
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I agree with everything @sleepyhead said however there are some more aspects that require discussion
In describing your game, you didn’t give us an understanding of whether you are F2P, C2P, or P2W
This is important as it can give us an insight into what other heroes you may get before advising on ascensions
-Ursena was a no brainer, all good
-Drake is clearly better than Neith, but Neith is also quite good and worth the materials in my opinion
-Marjana is a nice option for corner as identified, and fast snipers early are generally a better option
-Caedmon is a good option and you will use him for ages, I still use him a lot
The biggest issue for me, which is determined in some part by your paying status, is whether you should ascend Thorne (assuming you haven’t). If you have at least ten scopes and no other options, or are F2P, then fire away. Otherwise you might consider waiting for something better. Thorne is generally agreed to be among the most pedestrian five star heroes
And if you’re F2P then that might change the decisions on other things like Sabina
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I’m F2P. I did said it, but I fear many people would lost it on the text wall 
No, my only 5☆ further than 2/60 is Ursena. Until now, I didn’t like to use mats on a 5☆ if I was not going to go all the way with him. Now, however, I’m wondering if some of them would beneffit me over 4/70 4☆ because, being weaker, may offer something to my team if they abilitys are good enough.
About Thorne, is untouched. I just recently get my 6th scope, and was thinking about finishing Kiril, then ascending him (only colour feeders) to 2/60, and if nothing better comes by by the time I have done so, ascending him (unless I get Grimm, I would priorize ascending him, I got already two of the 3 pulberizers maxed, but for me, deff down just rocks).
Sorry, I was looking for capitals 
As an F2P your approach sounds exactly right, so carry on. I would suggest though that you’re probably still in a phase where four star depth is more important than working on fives
Exceptions are Ursena, and Drake. They should be taken as far as possible as soon as possible in my view
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Just in case, I edited to capitals. About working on 4☆ over 5☆ (I would also appreciate @sleepyhead insight), I can understand it (I’m anxious about ascending 5☆, but it makes sense). But… how many of each colour should be enough? I guess also that I should try to mantaing a colour equilibrium, but that if the RNG wants my especialized in a given colour (with obvious better choices) I should accept it and embrace it.
Just consider, I got for instance this greens: Caed, Mel and Kash at 4/70; LJ and Skitt at 3/60. Even having the shields (17), I’m reluctant to give them to this two, specially because I only have 4 compasses, and I strugle to get them (main sources are Farloom pass an lately legendary on events). I may ascend my second Caedmond (now sitting at 1/1) but I can’t picture myself ascending a third one, or giving the shields to another Melendor or to LJ, Skitll. Am I being to pikky, thinking about waiting for better green 4☆ or for 5☆?
I mean to ask this as a wider question, more than one on this specific case. The point is, once you have 3 fully ascended 4☆ of each colour, raising 4☆ dupes and subpar 4☆ even if they are not outstanding, or just wait?
I agree with @Infinite , especially considering you are F2P, to be a little cautious. I think you have a good approach, bring to 2/60 first then see if your roster changes by then (you never know when you get lucky from TC20!)
If you have the materials, Drake and Marjana are both worth ascending. Drake will be very helpful as you don’t have any other 4* except Wu. And BT + Marjana make a good combo. Marjana is a sturdy sniper, and Rogue talent + BT and Fighter talent = high chance of the pair staying alive (I use Marj + BT all the time in raiding )
Thorne - decent, but I agree, take him to 2/60 first and then see if your roster has changed since then.
As for how many of each color… that’s really tough. Compasses are your constraint now so I would consider your color balance carefully until you can get more. You lack Yellows, for example. I think you already have fairly strong Purple and Green benches from what I can see. So no, you are not being picky; until you get more mats it’s a good idea to be cautious with your 4s too. I agree with the approach, to prioritize 3 fully-ascended 4 of each color first. also, versatility/variety is more important now than dupes.
more specifically though, for Greens, I think LJ is worth considering. now you have one hitter (Caed) and two healers (Mel, Kash). Kash is really mostly useful for tanking. LJ adds to your offensive power, and his mana slowdown is more useful than Skittles’ attack debuff, in my opinion. Though depending on how your roster evolves - Skittles’ attack debuff helped me beat Ursena on hard mode in S2 
but LJ will be generally more useful against a wider variety of bosses.
But again, balance with the rest of your roster.
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