Maybe it is surprising that such a powerful hero was released? But otherwise exactly as you said - his special is so straight-forward that anyone who reads it can accurately gauge just how effective he would be in practise
PS SGG please give me Lord Loki I promise to only use his power against fast heroes.
Actually I didn’t expect anything about him when I pulled him. I saw him as a fun hero, nothing more. But now… I’m pretty sure I’m addict. He is a kind of joker in your team.
What @Rduke77 meant was that most informed players already knew that Lord Loki is already a good hero to have by reason that he can be any hero you want just by targeting any enemy hero in raid, copying their specials. He can heal as much as Vivica, or snipe as hardly as Lianna, or deal massive AOE damage like Cobalt (bypassing enemy defense) or Onyx (dispelling enemy buffs AFTER delivering DAMAGE - thanks for the correction, @jinbatsu) or Alfrike, or taunt the enemy like Black Knight, etc.
Yes indeed, however his mecanic itself was quite obscure for me before his release : does he copy one ability and keep it until the end of the fight ? If so, does he copy the mana speed too ? Or does he work in another way ? Now it’s clear, he copies his target, staying average, and is far more useful like that.
Correct…and if there is a slow hero (or very slow) on the other team, then you have that skill at average speed (and essentially fast if you have a lvl 23 mana troop). That’s a hell of a hero and basically eliminates the slow and very slow defenders. He basically gives you an offensive Afrike (or anyone really) in the VF tourneys. Defensively he’s basically rubbish due to having to select a skill to replicate, but offensively where you have control he’s one of the best in the game…he is THE BEST in the game against teams with slow or very slow heros like Afrike and Heimdall as examples.
Mok-arr for me, incredibly underrated hero. No yurple defence is safe with him and chameleon. Put in my kunchen for the defence debuff and mok basically nukes anything that’s not dark
And because it’s your only 5* you’ll learn how best to use her and appreciate what she brings more.
I still use my Quintus now. With the right support team he’s amazing and he gets used in every war and 9 time’s out of 10 he gets to fire and it’s usually terminal for the opponent.
You’ll build a team around Isarnia that makes the most of what she does. Hit 3 or Hit all heroes will sing when they follow Isarnia and you have found a synergy with Hu Tao (another unloved but perfectly capable character) and you’ll appreciate your hero for that.
You’ll pick up other heroes in time who you’ll slot in to work with Isarnia too. So keep at it bud 
3: Gill-Ra: I mainly leveled her up because she was so ugly, I just wanted to be kind to her. I use her a lot on offense and defense now.
4: Jack O’Hare: This is the one that’s really surprising to me. I’ve had him since Easter, and was in no hurry to level him. I really only did so because I’m trying to level all of my 4*. At some point, I thought he would fit into a gap in my tournament team defense, so I emblemed him up on the attack path. I was blown away by his performance. My 4* Raid Tournament defenses, which used to struggle, are now almost always “A” with him on right flank. And of course he’s excellent offensively, especially paired with Almur.
5: Freya: Some people have said Guardian Chameleon and Malosi, though I secretly suspected their excellence all along. On the other hand, is Freya, who I had no idea how excellent she would be. I was actually about as bummed to get Freya as one can be when summoning a non-classic 5* because I didn’t have any other minion summoning heroes (except for Rudolph) and I thought she wouldn’t work well otherwise. I was very wrong. She’s a triple threat, buffing not only herself but all allies’ attack/defense/HP. Excellent for Bloody Battle tournaments, raiding, map-stages, you name it. I was very surprised.
For me it’s has to be Guilli, I never thought I’d love a slow hero but I do.
His health boost is magic and paired with Wilbur he can do great damage.
Love him 
Small correction, Onyx hit 1st, then dispell.
Ametrine it is like Kage, dispell then damage.
My surprise hero is Carol. She is not yet maxed (4.10), I try to use in current tourney 4* no blue heroes, and have good results. Mana cut and put bomb at fast speed 
LOL. My bad. I was mixing Ametrine with Onyx. Lol.
I’ll follow suit and say on from each star level but I will have to apologise as some have already been said:
I’m just going to outline my favorite heroes released in 2020. It is surprising to me they were all slow or v. Slow.
3*: Sudri+19. I only use him on rush events and challenge events but he does incredible damage for a 3* and can bypass buffs with ranger talent. Useful for the gunnar/kailani tanks also in rush.
4*: Gullinbursti +20. Just leveled my second. I would level up to two more if I pulled them. The HP boost is nice but the damage hits all enemies, bypasses enemy buffs and also his attack increases. He also has great synergy with himself as all these effects add. He’s incredibly useful in rush events, ninja tower, etc.
5*: Alfrike +20. She is such a game changer when she fires that I went from raiding 4/1 on offense “back” to 3/1/1 with a reviver (Alby/MN), Alfrike and 3 hitters and my win rate went up 8%. At +20 She is beefy enough to take two direct snipes. And a nearly instant A grade defense for rush events.
Yes. One for Team carol!
Costume Renfeld has to be one of the best ones out there. I love him. Worth having just for tourneys.
Yeah, such 3* or 4* heroes having the abilities of 5* heroes are just so good advertisement of the respective 5* heroes…I just want Onatel so bad right now 
sadly, Atlantis screw me over…
Brynhild is surprisingly brilliant. I use her as a tank flanked by Kunchen and Alfrike. The mana boost she gives to them both makes them epic.
Hy! What do you think about Ei-Dunn instead of Sudri… ?
I use my Ei Dunn as well and she has a place. In general game terms she brings mana control to Red so in rush tournaments I will use her. I use her in the early event stages as well but as I go deeper my personal view is hit 3 with a stronger centre and weak sides becomes a curse and that’s where Sudri and he his strong hit all starts to win over for me.
Hit 3 is fine in blue as you have C.Gunnar to pool the damage and spread it (use my Nodri and Karil for that reason)
My only other issue is Ei Dunn has a pretty low base attack stat so to get the most from her you need to get them emblems out and as a Paladin that’s a hotly contested category.