Gargon´s guide to Soul Exchange 10

[Gargon]

Soul Exchange 10

I usually post it when the SE goes live, but I won´t have time this time, so here comes the guide a bit early based on the best info available. Will update later if necessary.

My view on this is from that of a Top 200 alliance player. At my level more heroes are playable than in the Top 20, but I am mostly interested in heroes that make me better, not that keep me floating where I already am. And I suggest the same view for everybody, no matter where they are at. The big guys obviously don´t care much about anything here, they´ll probably select something for the museum or a triplet for a hero that they like both copies they already have. Players in lower parts of the game will have more heroes of interest, but since they pay the same price I would still suggest to look at the best hero possible, rather than something that is affordable and barely good enough for a top 1000 alliance war.
Just like last time, I find the selection this time rather complex, there are many heroes that can be useful, but there is not 1 clear must-choose-hero like Ludwig and Milena were.
So generally speaking, what is a good hero to pick from SE (or same principal at a lower level also in Fated Summons)?

1. A hero that is simply super strong (very rare in SE/FS)

2. A hero that fills a specialized niche, but is otherwise useless. (Usually the option for people with a higher quality roster)

3. Most importantly: a hero that makes you better at something that you want to be better at. And that can be nearly anything depending on interests.
   And generally speaking what is a bad hero to pick? A pure damage based hero, because those get outdated the fastest and since all heroes in SE and more so FS are already old, you start out with something that is outdated by the time you get it. So better pick a hero with a timeless skill, that doesn´t degrade as fast over time.

Now for this current selection:

10 souls: Unlike most of the previous selections, this time there are actually a few viable choices in this category. Usually my recommendation is to save up more heroes for next time, or for those that have more heroes, to look into the higher categories. But let´s see what we got this time:

Chakkozroth: Skip it, horrible choice, absolutely no pick.
Matilda: Intersting choice. Fun hero that might be the one for people that already have a lot of heroes and have no real need for anyone in this selection. With this hero you can build a fun team around DoT! So go for it if you don´t have any big needs for other heroes!
Silvaria: nearly as bad as the purple one, stay away at all costs!
Erebus: Now we are coming to the interesting choices: A sniper with good damage (relatively) and at super speed (6 tiles!) The minion removal effect to 1 target usually is not that amazing, but when you consider Mega-Minions it´s maybe more interesting. The skill only removes only 50% of the mega minion, but at 6 tiles plus the additional damage that is better than most I would say
Himeros: My top choice at 10. very fast, priority dispel, OK sniper hit and a buff to nearby allies makes a very neat package. A good hero to have in your toolbox especially against taunters and other nasty buff heroes.

15 souls: Nice variety of heroes that can be useful in their respective niches.

Nyx: Great allround hero, can be a decent purple tank if you don´t have one yet. Good speed, nice buffs/ailments. Good choice!
Laohu: Some people liked an OK Xiaotu last time, this one is way better. Fast speed makes him an actually OK sniper, but of course as always it´s all about that anti-minion passive. If you don´t have a lunar hero yet, this is the one to go for.
Queen Anne: An interesting hero, but at slow speed mostly a hero for rush settings. Similar to Ludwig, but not even close to as good as the original. However taunt is a very strong skill and if you don´t have another one, this might be the one for you.
Barkley: If you need a hero for the def, this is a good choice, but remember damage based heroes (like this one) loose the most value over time.

Miriam&Midnight: The once number 1 meta tank is now (2 nerfs and 2 years later) the worst possible choice in the entire SE! Well she isn´t worse than the other 2, but she is more expensive and certainly not appreciably better, so my number 1 pick from the bottom end (literally and figuratively).

20 Souls: Good news is: None of them suck
Guardian Panther Costume: Without checking the facts I would bet, this is the hero with the best stats (and really the only one that has somewhat current stats) in this selection. The second plus is: You can get another copy from FS if you pick this costume. Besides that you are also looking at a very good hero. Fast speed, hits all with decent (for old heroes) damage, EDD (which will never be out of fashion, even if it was nerfed a while ago) and the buff block is what I like maybe most of all. As a bonus you can also use the base version instead, if you want a dispeller (or if you pick the second copy from FS, you can use one for dispel and one for buff block in addition). If you like options, this is the one!
Jequn: Another good choice for defence! At very fast speed you can put him exactly anywhere in the lineup and it´ll never be a bad idea Definitely an annoying critter to deal with.
Green Knight: One of those damage based heroes I keep talking about. The combo of DD first, hit second is fun! The bonus effect on revive is super strong, but not that easy to work with. Makes a good choice for a defensive tank!
Phenexa: Definitely one of the absolutely best heroes this time and one that is absolutely impossible to go wrong with. Would be my first choice without blinking, if I had any red mats to spare (or at least if I didn´t have a red bench 3 heroes deep). Why do I think she´s best? Well as I said damage heroes are second choice, which makes healers first choice :D, She´s got a %heal (which is great), she also is a bard (those 5% mean you can still fire fast heroes with legendary troops in 7 tiles instead of loosing a tile, or you can bring some special fast heroes down to 6 tiles instead). In addition she has more buffs: Attack boost, Crit (titan, if you don´t have a meta titan team) and a buff renewal. So many things and all of them can be of use!
Tinsel: one of the best Christmas heroes (together with Krampus). Fast speed and a decent hit 3 (well damage lol), but she also does DD and she lowers enemy accuracy (both depend on blue tiles). Again all those things probably make her especially good on defence. What does make her deserve getting circled? The nerf we just had Just pointing out that at current her DD (because tile dependant) can still trigger all the Pophits/Starwalkers/etc. I am guessing it´s just an oversight by SG quality control (sorry couldn´t resist), but who knows, maybe they are too lazy to fix this? If you like gambling (well since you play this game, I guess you do), might bet on SG being lazy If you don´t, well feel free to remove the circle and treat her like the other decent to good choices.

Recommendations:

Overall best hero, if you can´t decide on your own who to pick: Phenexa! There´s just no downside here!
Best deal: Himeros at 10 with a 20 soul quality.

20 Souls: All of them are worth 20, But panther and Phenexa stand out.
15 Souls: Nyx and Laohu stand out, but except M&M (who isn´t even worth 10), all are worth 15.
10 Souls: Himeros is the best choice, but even Erebus is worth 10, Matilda gets a special mention for most fun hero

Purple: CGuardianPanther
Yellow: Laohu
Red: strongest color this time! Phenexa is the best out of 3 good red heroes.
Green: No must have, maybe Queen Anne is the better deal at 15 over Green Knight.
Blue: Tinsel and Himeros are both good choices.

Feel free to add or disagree as much as you like

In case you are new and don´t know the abbreviations:
SE = Soul Exchange
FS = Fated Summon
EDD = Elemental Defense Down
DD = Defense Down
I hope that covers it.

[slartibartfast]

Awesome , simple answer to almost everyone’s confusion .
To the point. Not overcomplicating subject. Thank you

[Gwi]

Thank you for the run down.
I have a bit of mix feelings if I should take Himeros or wait for the next SE. At this point it comes down to whatever hero will come out of my HA in about 24 hours as that would be the 10th hero I could easily trade. I could push it to 15 souls if there was something I really wanted, and while the Queen is decent, I already have enough slow greens as it is.

[aweew]

Interesting, it’s not the first time I see that people like Tiger more than Xiaotu. In my opinion bunny is better. Ofc main purpose for both heroes are minion block, but Xiaotu can be also used against healer tanks. Healing prevention for 4 turns is massive.

[erik1]

This is a fantastic guide, thank yous Gargon

the 20’s feel a bit lacking and erebus is a great deal for 10 but i guess having a hero like matrera in there would make everyone mad ;(

need blue sniper big big big blue sniper ;(

[Pwuriel]

I’m thinking between Phenexa and Queen Anne. I dont have any 5* taunter, but I have a lot of great 5* green Heroes. My Red is quite good, but Phenexa passives are realy strony, plus her buffs are pretty strony in pve and pvp. CPanther is no need for me (I have Domitia in all costumes). What do you think?

[Gargon]

Well the reason why tiger is better is the speed. Xiaotu is avg speed sniper, which is basically junk.

The healing prevention is of course an OK bonus, but really what do you need it for? At avg speed it´s unlikely you are able to fire her before a healer tank goes off, and after that well if you get your heroes charged the better thing is to just kill the healer instead of preventing the second heal. You could bring her as a support hero I guess? Anyway. She´s OK as I said. But a fast speed hitter is just doing a better job than an avg speed one.

[alonyor]

With legendary troops the difference between fast and average heroes isn’t big.
Usually you will need 3 matches to fire both.

I like the healing prevention - it’s very useful against the multi healers meta.
Bunny is red so against Nautica I usually take mistweaver but xiaotu left his mark on countless Hathors.

Meanwhile my lahou is sitting on 3/70 and comes out only for the rare occasions I need an extra minion Hander on late rush war teams against LoTL/Waterpipe. His hit doesn’t cut it anymore against current defences

[Blem]

Wow! You need to get out of my head! Nothing to disagree with here. Completely what I was thinking! And I have the same issue with Phenexa. Not enough Rings and 3 heroes waiting in line (Though for me she would likely leap frog 2 of those). Not sure if I should just take her, free up the space and wait for the mats or leave her, take someone else, free up the space and be possibly gutted when I manage to get the missing 4 rings within a month from MV, Titans & War. I’ll sleep on it and decide.

Either way, excellent breakdown!

Just one gamer’s opinion

Game Well

[Gargon]

If you want a taunt it´s one thing. But are you sure you can use a slow speed hero for the purpose you were thinking? She isn´t bad, but taunt heroes are rather stats dependent, kinda like damage heroes. So if you can alpha break her, you get a really good hero (the alpha skill is one of the best, but also she really needs the stats to survive once she goes off)
Well you probably wouldn´t play Phenexa together with your red hitters, she´s much better with a different color damage stack, so you can use her to boost a color that needs a boost
Panther and Domitia don´t have much in common except for the EDD. So for titans you don´t need the Panther, but in PvP you might, it depends on who else you have to pair with them. Domitia is rather useless, if you have fast speed purple hitters, as you would fire the others ones first and Domitia last. if your hitters are avg speed Domitia can do the EDD job.
But I find the most interesting thing about the Panther the buff block and Domitia doesn´t do that, so I don´t think they have too much in common.

[Trey]

yeah her buff block is probably the most appealing part of her for me and the fact you can easily have both copies if you took her in fated summons or already had a copy, but not thrilled with any of the choices this round

[Gargon]

@alonyor

With legendary troops the difference between fast and average heroes isn’t big.
Usually you will need 3 matches to fire both.

That´s always been the case if you make 3 matches and it´s still the same difference as before if you make Dragons. Laohu fires in 7 tiles, Legendary troop or not. Xiaotu fires in 9. if you know how to make Dragons, there´s a difference, if you don´t then I agree there is no difference.

@alonyor

Meanwhile my lahou is sitting on 3/70

Well yes I absolutely agree that an old hero at 3-70 doesn´t deal enough damage. That much should be obvious. Btw my Laohu is at 3-85 and I feel he doesn´t do enough damage either. I´d like to see him with a 5star troop at 3-90, but well that´s not the world I live in…

[Gargon]

Thanks

btw Rings is just the first bottle neck, red aethers are even worse… I have Cupido (yes I picked another red one last SE lol), Torben and Ray sitting without LB and dying all the time… I could add Phenexa to the list… she might leapfrog Ray and/or Cupido, but then those guys never get the LB, so I really shouldn´t… But I really want to lol…
Sleeping on it, too until the last day probably, hoping for some lightbulb to go off…

[Blem]

Ah, Lucky for me rings is my only bottleneck. I’ve got more than enough emblems (Got a few M’blems as well) and all the Aethers I would need for LB1. Fulvia and Vanda can easily wait a bit longer but Gestalt (and costume) will take priority over her.
Hoping for that lightbulb moment too though I’ll probably end up taking her in the dying hours.

Game Well

[Gargon]

@erik1

having a hero like matrera in there would make everyone mad ;(

that´s a perfectly reasonable candidate, not one I would recommend picking, unless it was in the 10er category I guess, but why not, we´ve had other gargoyles before and I guess we´ll have gargoyles again, they are old enough to be useless for SG and therefore popular choices for them, yet rare enough that some people might be interested in them, because they got mauled by then 2 years ago when they were new

[Samantha7]

Gargon, very nice summary. When i read it, i had already taken Phenexa (2 heroes ahead of her. But she’s lucky, i already did Lodius and Sparklight). Hard choice for me cause i could have done Panther without delay. And what i really need is yellow. Lol, never mind. SE is about space for me and i take the hero that i like best. Some day maybe even Tethys and Hohenwerf will get done. Right now they are not on any ‘to do list’ anymore.

[Wholf]

Love the guide and agree with all your points except one. Silvaria…
That 34% def down is pretty solid if you don’t have other options. I have all three green heroes listed in this SE and she is the one I take to blue titans for that DD. I only have her at 3:70 and she still shines there until I can get a higher green DD hero. So might be worth a consideration if looking to add DD in green for only 10 souls.

[Gargon]

@Wholf

I only have her at 3:70 and she still shines there until I can get a higher green DD hero

Maybe look again at what you already have Especially your 3 star roster. There´s a little Druid girl hiding in a costume, who does a way better def down than Silvaria. I wouldn´t waste that titan spot on Silvaria for sure if I had her.

But in general all heroes can have some kind of use somewhere in the game. Having a hero is one thing (and I am not saying you should never ever use Silvaria if you already have her) the question is, if it is worth paying 10 (or more) expensive 5 star heroes to get them. And Silvaria certainly isn´t worth that. If that was your only option, a much better option would be to pick nobody at all and get something better next time, especially if you can then go for a higher shelf. Lucky for us this time there are only 3 heroes I put into that absolutely-not-category
Last time (or was it the time before?) There was that second gen green Ninja for 10! Now that was a real steal and worth more than 10 souls for sure. If you don´t spend a lot and can´t throw out 20 heroes every time, it´s just about waiting for the right moment, rather than just pick something right now, because it´s there.

[milodemoray]

Its a pity i didnt know about your thread before. It is well thought out, and is actually useful for mid-level and beginner’s.

[Ufeel]

Thanks for the overall recommendation!
I am still missing something regarding the reason you mentioned about the average is so much worse vs. fast. E.g. LaoHu vs. Xiaotu

In my understanding, Avg. generally can fires with 9 tiles, and Fast usually, without costume bonus, will still need 7 or 8 tiles.

So does 9 vs. 7/8 tiles matter that much, or there is some other reasons?

My understanding/thinking is the same as @aweew . I still want to learn nevertheless.