Fated Summons round 6.
First of all:
This is by far the best FS selection we have ever had, of course this should be true every time as we get newer heroes every time. However this time, for the first time since FS was started, SG has broken their MO. They did not ride out the CF1 heroes until the end (they still had enough heroes from those families for 2 more rounds, including the Chameleon, which I had hoped to pick up or LotL or Black Knight), but instead chose to add newer hero families. Also the hotm group is not chosen from the oldest options available (as they used to do, 2018 was last round, 2017 the round before that), but from 2023 instead. The newly introduced groups are also not the oldest ones available (like for example CF2 heroes would have been much older). So this is a huge step up from the previous MO of offering the absolute oldest heroes possible (that hadn´t been in FS before of course). All this made the S4 heroes from the highest TP last round to the lowest TP this round (although not by much, most heroes fall in the 807- 823 TP range, so stats are less of an issue now). So in terms of the standard we were used to, SG has really actively done something to give us more useful options. Of course the heroes here will never be current heroes, but still much better than what they could have done!
Costumes/Outfitter:
As always so far: no costumes are included for any of the heroes (don´t believe the max power preview)
One side effect of this choice of somewhat newer heroes: While newer, it also means, they do not have costumes yet and therefore we cannot improve them during the outfitter event. But I think that is a very good deal for us nevertheless.
While speaking about the outfitter, here is what I think it has to do with the FS selection in general: Not really that much 
Yes we were able to pick up old cards and pick up there costumes in the outfitter later, but the frequency of the outfitter (apparently every 3 month) does not give us the chance for many costumes. In reality most players probably already have a stockpile of those outdated heroes that need costumes, so picking up more of them from FS is only going to prolong the queue in the outfitter, not increase the number of useful heroes in your roster. So my recommendation is still the same as before, pick the best hero from FS and not to pick a useless hero, that only becomes good with a future costume. An exception would be newbies who do not have this long backlog of outdated heroes. In that case up to 2 heroes per FS selection (because outfitter will probably appear twice during each FS round) could be picked with the outfitter costume in mind.
If you already have costumes of any of the heroes on this list, picking a duplicate may be a very good idea.
Target audience:
This is a feature mostly designed for people that spend little to no money at all, as all the heroes on this list are badly outdated (yes even with the new introductions this time it is still true) and will not stand up against a team of current heroes. Still and especially with the hike in TP, there should be interesting choices for most of us 
Damage heroes:
They age faster than all other types of heroes, so if in doubt skip the damage heroes and go for functionality and healers instead, for a better value hero. But on the other side if a hero on this list does more damage than a hero you are currently using, then it is definitely a good idea to take the upgrade (given you can actually upgrade the hero to a level where it can replace the older one). Don´t pick them to maybe use them in the future, the longer you wait the worse they get.
Overview
Hotm: Obviously they will never run out, as they produce 12 per year and only offer 10 in FS, so this group will likely never get replaced with something else. As I said this time, they didn´t choose the oldest ones out there, but jumped to 2023 instead. I didn´t check, but I am guessing this is first half of 2023 and next time we´ll see second half of 2023? We´ll see if that becomes the new MO for hotms. Also this means no costumes available from the outfitter, only very old hotms have costumes.
This time: A wide selection from strong through niche functionality to bad
Season 4: Round 2 of 4? The only group of heroes that actually has costumes available in the outfitter, so if you don´t have a backlog yet, this is a very interesting group for you. But also in general S4 has a few interesting heroes worth considering.
This time: Since we got mostly garbage in the last round of S4, we now get some better options here, one of them among the best S4 heroes overall.
AQ1 : This is one of the newly introduced groups and of course come with an absolute highlight! We´ll see what happens here next round, maybe AQ2 heroes?
This time: I bet a lot of peoples´first pick will be here. Also they are getting costumes right now, but it will be 18 month before you can get them in the outfitter (so that is not really much to consider when making your choice).
Magic Tower : Another newly introduced family. The selection here even includes a 2nd generation hero! Well obviously by accident, but still. Again definitely highlight potential! What will we see next? 2nd gen Ninjas?
The first charge is the important one (5 or 6 tiles depending on troop!), while the second charge is just a bonus (sometimes a nice one, sometimes completely irrelevant).
This time: 2 absolute top picks in this group and 3 that I wouldn´t recommend. Kinda black and white
Individual heroes:
Hotm:
R&N: (TP: 819) Best hotm in 2023, good sniper, with mana steal (actual steal meaning giving the stolen mana to your own heroes!) Absolutely worth using.
Viselus: (TP: 820) Anti minion hit-3 hero, otherwise crap. But if you don´t have other minion killers, he may be worth having for you. Check out Eloise!
Suzuna: (TP: 823) Crap! Nobody needs heal-3 heroes. Unless they also do something very powerful as their main skill and the heal is just a little bonus, like Luna. This is not Luna.
Gilligan: (TP: 821) Crap! Yes some people like him for the mana effect, but if a hero is garbage, making him faster makes him fast garbage, not good.
Turgruk: (TP: 822) Decent Sniper at very fast, but most used for titans for the additional Franz effect in stack form (meaning you can have 2 Franz effects going at the same time!) Used to be meta for Mts, before all the completely bonkers titan heroes came out, but for the CTP crowd still a top notch MT hero.
Season 4:
Zenobia: (TP: 809) Crap! Yes there is this old titan functionality, but it is not really a thing anymore. The effect is there, but so small that bringing a hero with the highest attack stat instead of her, will boost the damage more than her skill.
Fogg: (TP: 807) Decent sniper, with functionality. The dispel can remove taunt for example, the EDD can then empower a following second (or third) sniper to take out single targets. Also good choice for titan EDD. Especially if used for wars a good option for the outfitter costume!
Morel: (TP: 807) Used to be a scary def hero on left wing. Today it is DD to all, but close to no damage. Since hit-all teams without the newest and shiniest heroes are crap, his niche on offense doesn´t really exist anymore. The hero by itself is absolutely fine, but I find it hard to come up with a good idea on how to use him these days. If you can, go for it.
Aouda: (TP: 808) Crap sniper. Most (all?) other yellow S4 heroes are better.
Hulda: (TP: 816) One of the best S4 heroes. Simply a strong healer by itself and worth picking the costume up later! With costume, this is a healer I would play in wars, just pick a target that doesn´t go after minions.
AQ1:
Lewena: (TP: 822) Fast hit all, pure damage (you know my opinion on those). Also a super rare skill to block talents. Not a game changer, but something unique.
Quenell: (TP: 816) She was a monster when she came out, the strongest fast hit-3 back then Again, see above on damage heroes, but I guess chances are she´s better than what you are using right now? So even though she´s a bad idea, she might be a good idea anyway?
Esme: (TP: 816) Boosted health and anti-fiend action (and partial mega fiend removal). Not much use if there aren´t any fiends and well there rarely are fiends, but if you want a specialized healer for just that niche, she´s one of very few that can do this. In most cases I find it better to simply bring a bigger % heal instead and get rid of the fiends that way, the fiends would have to be gigantic to require a removal… But for the people that already have everything, this may be the thing they don´t have yet.
Eloise: (TP: 822) Minion killer, compared to Viselus, she hits all instead of 3, plus gives future immunity against minions as well. So I´d say she´s the better choice if color is not a consideration.
Ludwig: (TP: 816) An absolute highlight here, probably the best ever hero that came through Soul Exchange and basically a must-pick for everybody who doesn´t have him yet. I might pick up a second one. The only slow hero I play in every war
Magic Tower:
Ray: (TP: 890!) SG clearly picked the wrong hero here, but for a change the lack of quality control is giving us a better hero, than they planned Ray is a second gen Magic hero, TP is like 70 higher than all other heroes in this round! The hero they meant to go there is Nadezhda But anyway, Ray is a top notch choice, dispel and EDD (even a little DoT) on super speed. Also being a charge hero he´s a perfect Luna/Mena counter. Second charge is not great, but who cares.
Cristobal: (TP 813) A complicated damage hero. Requires a lot of fiddling with timing.
Milena: (TP: 813) Another absolute top choice, I would say second most outstanding SE choice of all times (after Ludwig) and still a great choice today. Super fast healing/cleanse with a chance for mana boost! Second charge is big damage+dispel, not as essential as the first charge, but still a viable choice on occasion.
Motega: (TP: 813) Minions or Fiends with bonus effects, but not a very high impact special either way.
Agrafena: (TP: 813) First charge seems a bit hard to synergize speed wise, the second charge is interesting with a gigantic attack boost, but as I said, the first one is the important one…
So as a summary:
Top picks:
Hulda, Ludwig, Ray, Milena
All 4 have amazing functionality and depending on each players needs one or another of them will be the top pick. One cannot go wrong with any of them!
Heroes for certain purposes:
For people that really want a green hero: Fogg? Quenell?
For people that really want a yellow hero: Eloise?
For people that want healers: Hulda, Milena
For people that want damage: R&N (sniper), Quenell (hit-3), Lewena (hit-all)
Have fun with your shiny old toys! May they serve you well!
Abbreviations:
SE = Soul Exchange
FS = Fated Summon
EDD = Elemental Defense Down
DD = Defense Down
DoT – Damage over time
HoT – Heal over time
I hope that covers it, if not let me know
