They called it featured legendary! I am so glad I was that lucky… to get it… to level it… to forget it… 
Be happy that you got the costume of such a great hero.
The stat + mana speed bonus for the original hero are already more than worth it. However, although I would normally prefer the old version of Isa, also her costume has its benefits. First, she is sorcerer which means she has the chance to slow the mana of nasty enemy heroes. Next, her costume has an insanely high attack stat, more than 30 points more than original Isa.
Against certain defense setups (one or no healer, relatively slow but dangerous tank) I would definitely take the increased tile and special damage + the sorcerer ability
Just like Richard’s. Got his on a 300 gems pull, but dont plan to wear it on my Richard. It’s nice the stats boots, but the costume just doesn’t fit!! It was a mistake making him a barbarian, also his costume nerf his attack debuff turns. The only legendary costume that I’d wear are Vivica, Horghall and Quintus. All the other just level up for stats boost
I disagree. Joon as a fighter can be absolutely amazing.
Max it, but don’t wear it.
Stat boost without nerfed special.
Yes, it’s that simple… 
The costumes of Sonya, Tyrum, Richard, Elena, Vivica, Melendor and Rigard are worth a try imo.
Since you can simply dress and undress each time once it’s done, there’s nothing to complain about.
This was my point. You would max it same way, as you would if there were 0dmg 0def iWontHarmAFly special.
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Aside from levelling purely for costume bonus, question still remains that where would one use costumed Isarnia over base Isarnia? I think it’s a great question IMO. I’d be interested in understanding where it can be used
EDIT: Trials is one obvious answer. What else?
I probably will give em a try.
For class quests or situational costumes will suit.
Rigard for example will get as tanky as Boldie now is.
Sonya can cleanse or dispel, whatever is needed.
Isarnia looks pretty cold in her masquerade and will be fast enough in one of the next rushs.
Just test both versions and change whenever you want.
Of course i will gladly put the costume on whenever i get them maxed
Exactly Olmor. People are being thrown off by the side to side comparison of a maxed hero vs the maxed costume and fail to realize that the maxed hero gets a costume bonus too.
In this case, Isarnia’s stats jump to 
836, 
688, and 
1320. Lower attack stat but better defense and health and better special.
My question was mainly for isarnia.
I don’t see benefit of decreased def down over increased atk + aoe dmg. On titans, I want other heroes to hit harder, so +10% def down is valuable. I would say same for raids too. Not seeing a lot of improvement in def and hp stat to warrant switching for raid/war defense. Hence my question, is there any specific area where costumed isarnia is more useful?
Sorry I didn’t quite catch this. Can you explain?
I don’t use her for being slow.
In rush raid tournaments that doesn’t matter, since all specials are set to very fast.
Total destruction Isarnia. So cool.
Snowhite at max cap deals 3175 ~ x5 damage
MAX CAPPED
Best hitter in the game by far.
Isarnia 2200 ~ x5 and defence down ALWAYS
Nothing to laugh about.
It was lethal before, MORE lethal now.
While I’d rather have a greater -def, that attack stat is very attractive.
It’s very simple. In PvP the costume, is nothing to discuss here. The amount of def down doesn’t matter at all after she fires. It’s almost game over anyway, especially if she’s emblemed, like mine. In missions and event challenges, the original is better, of course.
Btw, Isarnia was my first legendary in this game. Imo she is the best classic and the only game changer among classics. Two editions ago, when was rush attack tournament (red not allowed), I set Isarnia flank, obviously. My defense was undefeated, grade A all the time (I always post screenshots). And thank to Isarnia I finished at 1% though I lost 9 attacks! (paid 75 gems twice). Why do I say Isarnia? Because I’m pretty sure not my Elk tank was responsible for not being defeated; she was.
With the costume now, she is practically the best killer in the game so far. It is enough to do the math with the new damage + only 2 atk nodes (achievable by almost everyone).
Also, using the costume version of Isarnia on events will be very beneficial as the attack up makes up for the lower def down since in a speed run you only fire the special at the bosses and then use items so the 10% won’t matter as much there. Especially if you also have Athena to use right after.
It also only takes 5 warm capes to max.
Costume for the tile damage during raids. Her damage is devastating.
Original for titans for better def down.
For trials she can swing both ways which is great.
Is it true that you need the hero fully emblemed as well to get the costume bonus??
I was expecting that the costumes would improve the heroes’ specials, but it doesn’t seem like any of them really do. It seems like all the specials are either nerfed, or they’re not better or worse but just different.
I’m not arguing that costume isn’t worth maxing, I get the stat boost and trials alone make it worth using 5 capes.
My motivation behind my question was that I personally don’t see lot of value (apart from trials) to switch to costume, and I was hoping someone would be able to convince me otherwise. I personally think they made her special worse in costumed version, trade for increased atk for worse special isn’t worth it IMO.
Speaking of raids, It’s 9833 (base => 797x1.05x2.35x5) vs 11080 (costumed => 869x2.55x5). Aka roughly diff of 250 dmg/hero. This is great if she ends game then and there. However, if there’s enemies on field, then that -10% def becomes a lot more valuable because now other heroes can hit harder.
I don’t have neither Isarnia nor the costume, and was hoping someone who has used both to weigh in if they found the trade in of 250dmg/hero value trade for -10% def. Answer is clearly no for Titans, but I’m not sold if raid offense and defense favor use of costumed version.
