Criteria for maxing heroes: special skills vs. available emblems

General Discussion
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Hello again,

I am curious about your opinion on how important are emblems when taking decisions to max 5* heroes.

My case - what I like most in the game are wars. This is why I decided to join an alliance that is at the moment trying to get back in top 100 (won a couple of wars against top 100 alliances). I could improve my performance quite a bit and I am trying to find ways to do that.

I am trying to stay clear of playing mono (which I think it’s more chance dependent and for which anyway I don’t have enough troops). My play style is currently 3-1-1.

I would say that I’m pretty decent in putting teams together, while my board play is the one that mainly needs improvement. Of course, sometimes I hurry or I don’t pay attention and screw it up, but generally I am making up some decent teams.

However, I found that even for 3-1-1 bad boards can be costly, especially when my heroes are not fully emblemed or limit broken (I just managed to get to 30 5* heroes and I don’t have enough emblems or aethers for all the heroes I would take in war).

Considering that I have already managed to put together some decent teams with good synergy, I feel now that when I am maxing new heroes, I should focus more on whether I have enough emblems for them or not and how they would fit in my current war teams, rather than how good they seem at first or how appreciated they generally are compared with other heroes.

That is because those improved stats can make the difference between winning and losing. Just last minion war, my BK managed to survive with only 100 hp and protect the rest of my team so that Skadi and C. Kiril got time to charge and fire. He would probably not have survived if I would not have limit broken him just before the war.

Some examples of good/ great heroes, that I don’t manage to use at the moment because of lack of emblems:

  1. Master Lepus (original version, no costume) - his stats are so low and dies so easily. So instead of keeping him at +9 (with still worse than mediocre stats), I decided that I could use those emblems to get Pengi and Gazelle from +14 to +17.

  2. Everybody says how great Octros is and I got myself killed a few times by him. But because I don’t have enough Figher emblems (he is at +7) and I don’t have high enough troops to use him with BK, while anyway my Fire team with BK, Elizabeth and Lewena are doing well together anyway, I don’t actually use him…

  3. I was thinking of whether to max next after Zuri, Vivica (*with both costumes), Devana or Motega. Theoretically, Vivica with her two costumes seems the best choice. However, since I have already a lot of holy healers and Vivica is slow, while and Zuri and Krampus as minion makers for Pengi, no cleric emblems but many ranger emblems and I could use an extra Holy hitter with dispel, now I am leaning towards Devana.

I know this has been a long post (just trying to explain well my context), but I would be glad to get some feedback on how much should I take into consideration the available emblems for maxing future heroes, especially as I am now playing at a more competitive level. So far I have been focusing on their special skills and I’ve managed to form some teams with good synergies. but now I feel that it’s not working so well to have teams made up mainly of heroes that are at +5/+7/+9.

Of course, I am not referring here to A+ heroes with some great special skills like Alfrike or Adalinda which would be clearly important to prioritize or defense heroes, but rather heroes that are good/ average like for example deciding between Tahir, Puss in Boots and Lady Loki, when I already have some hitters, healers and cleansers.

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I actually have pivoted to largely basing ascension around emblems, even for heroes with top tier skills.

An excellent skill does me no good if the hero cannot survive long enough to use it, or hit hard enough when they do, so unless I can heavily emblem a hero (or limit break as an alternative), I will not ascend them.

This has of course resulted in slowing my leveling, which was an extra push to slow summoning.

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I do take emblems into consideration, but it would appear I have a more limited roster than you do, so that factors in as well.

For war attack teams, mine vary depending on the opponent. I do have some go-to combinations of attack heroes, but I don’t have set attack teams. I mention this to give context to my perspective.

I’d say emblems factor in for priority leveling. If I don’t have emblems to take a hero all the way up, I’ll level that one more slowly. I do take into account roster fit, but less so than in the past. As you get new heroes, teams evolve, synergies change and new synergies emerge.
Guess that’s my long-winded way of saying, emblem availability is important, and you’re right, it can make a difference, but ultimately the emblems will come. For me it’s a balancing act between short and long term results.

Sounds like you’ve put a great deal of thought into this, and I think you’re right to prioritize heroes you can emblem up more fully, which will have a more immediate impact. I just wouldn’t let that deter you from leveling heroes with greater long term impact.

Ultimately, I break it down by need vs. luxury. If a hero represents an upgrade to a need, even if only partially emblemed, I’ll level them —particularly if they’re going to fulfill that need for a long time, even if that means changing existing synergies. Then, while I’m embleming them up, they may be on one of my ‘lesser’ attack teams until they’re ready for prime time.

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Thank you for your thoughts, I get both your points :slight_smile: Just an observation - it is not necessarily about embleming them fully, but about getting to a certain level of stats relative to their speed and utility.

For example, I have noticed that below 800 defense, heroes get killed easily, but better yet is a 900 defense. Similarly, a threshold of 1300-1400 HP seems important theses days.

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Always max the one with the best special skill, it’s just a matter of time to get emblems.

Or just pick the worst same-class hero, reset it’s emblems and power up the best one available.

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