My roster is starting to get a little deeper. Is it time to start investing in “niche” heroes? (AKA help me select the next heroes to ascend)

Gameplay Help & Tactics
1

So far, anytime I wondered which heroes deserved the ascension mats, I questioned myself: is this hero useful everywhere or just in a very specific scenario? I would always prioritize heroes that would see more mileage and make those scarce mats worth the investment.

Now I have 26 fully leveled 5s. I do still need 4 more to be able to field only 5s in wars, and still lack some fundamental stuff such as blue and purple elemental debuff. But most often than not, I have at least one hero that’s useful in any situation that the game throws at me.

You should know that since SGG adjusted their exchange rates (and prices skyrocketed in my currency), I haven’t been spending a lot in the game other than VIP, POV and the first day offers of Atlantis and Valhalla. That means a 10x pull in one portal of my choosing each month besides the free pulls. So I haven’t been getting many new heroes.

That means I come across mats here and there, but don’t have many heroes to choose from and that made me start reconsidering some long dismissed options.

Given that context, I ask your advice on which heroes should be ascended next:

  1. RED.

Current roster: Gravemaker (+20), Mitsuko (+20), Marjana (+15) Lady Loki (+12) and Garnet (+4).
Contenders: Noor, Costumed Elena, JF and Reuben.

Commentary: JF seems to be the obvious choice, but his dots would overlap GM’s and Marj’s. That means I would only really ever use him in wars and buff tournments and not alongside Gravy and Marj. Can see him being very useful against Frigg though. Elena is slow, but due to her high attack, she would probably make into my titan team (GM-Falcon-Wilbur-BT-Tarlak), besides war. Not looking to ascend either Noor or Reuben, but maybe can change my mind?

  1. PURPLE.
    Current roster: Alfrike (+19), Clarissa (+8), Domitia (+7), Sartana.

Contenders: Grimble and Zulag.

Commentary: I already have 12 tabards and my purple roster is severely in need of more options, so maybe it’s time to give one these guys a chance to shine? There’s Malicna coming next march, and although not game-changing, she seems better than my current contenders. So maybe wait another month or so?

  1. YELLOW.

Current roster: White Rabbit (+20), Neith (+20), Malosi (+9), Delilah (+12) and Joon.

Contenders: Bai Yeong, Rana, Norns, Ranvir (working at 3.70), Guardian Owl.

Commentary: Alfrike is so fun at very fast, and now that everyone is using purple tanks for very fast wars, I’m giving the Owl another chance at being a real contender for the darts. Plus, I have nowhere else to spend those. Are Bai and Norns any useful? Is Rana worth at average speed? Or should I just wait for Uraeus?

  1. GREEN:

Current roster: Heimdall (+20), Kingston (+7), Zeline (+7), Telluria (+7), Costumed Kadilen (+4).

Contenders: Ratatoskr, Tarlak, Gregorion, Lianna, Jade, Zocc, Yunan and Bertilla.

Commentary: I have a lot of options here. Rat and Tarlak are serving their purpose at 3.70 without many issues. Greg could be an addition to my green titan team, but I don’t see a huge improvement worth 6 tonics. I’m yet to find any usefulness to Zocc and Younan. Then there’s Lianna, who seems to be the pragmatic choice, but I already have Kingston. So I’m more tempted to go after Bertilla right now. Please talk me out of it.

  1. BLUE:

Current roster: Raffaelle (+15), Skadi (+16), Vela (+20), Misandra (+7).

Contenders: Magni, Glenda and Costumed Richard.

Commentary: The most pragmatic choice would be Magni (everyone needs fast snipers, yada yada), but I would bring Misandra instead of him most of the time, because she already have some emblems and I like her proc. It saved my skin a lot of times. Between Glenda and Richard, I really don’t know who would be more useful. Open to suggestions.

2

Great roster! I’ll throw a few things out there to help you in your decision:

  1. I don’t see Miki or Gazelle out there in your roster. Your number 1 priority should be Tarlak. That buff will elevate your titan damage big time!

  2. You have a heavily emblemed Skadi. She is the best hero facing minion makers. That would put Noor and Grimble on the back burner IMO.

  3. Red,. I still think JF is your best bet. There are a lot of strong defense down heroes on top level defenses. Frigg, Kunchen, C Viv to name a few. Turning a defense down to a BIG defense up is a massive boost to you raiding options.

  4. I’d wait for Purples. Zulag could find some work on late war teams perhaps.

  5. Yellow I’d go Norns. Her special is flat out fun and with a roster that deep, adding a fun hero would really be a cool thing to have in the arsenal.

  6. Green, Tarlak as mentioned above.

  7. Blue. Glenda or Magni. Richard isn’t better than a few of your other tanks so unless your alliance is using Blue…the other 2 are a better fit.

Cheers my friend!

2 Likes
3

Many seem to under estimate Elena, especially her costume, but she has saved my rear many many times reviving and then firing off. Not to mention crippling any snipers who dare snipe her. Plus she has very high attack stat, I have her costume bonus +18, paired with JF at +19, and that elemental link really goes far.

2 Likes
4

Can’t comment on everything, but here are my 2 cents:

  1. Red: Costumed Elena, her high attack stat is great for titans, and her riposte is great for watching the defense suicide itself.
  2. Purple: Grimble, with the minion wars, he can be a useful asset, particularly as you have 12 tabards. The other thing to keep in mind is that lots of defenses are minion generators, and there are a number of HoTMs whose elemental link is to create minions. An alternate to your Skadi in war depth.
  3. Yellow: Bai Yeong. The duration is pretty short, but, with an accuracy decrease of 75%, I’ve had AoE attacks go off and only hit one hero. You talk about Alfrike being used as tanks for fast wars, but hit her with Bai Yeong and watch cubes miss.
  4. Green: Don’t really know, but Yunan can be a crippling hero, particularly at fast.
  5. Blue: I would lean to Magni, as a sniper.
1 Like
5

I absolutely love Bai Yeong, and he is my favorite hero for Alfrike in defences. Just made a video of him, you won’t see Alfrike miss (board turned oit to be good), but Joon and Finley will. Works for Frigg and Odin too - they often miss 4 or even 5 targets. :slight_smile:

https://youtu.be/xThzQN_hzxY

2 Likes
6

Yup, definitely. Particularly since Finley stops attacking once he misses. So if he misses the first attack, no damage to worry about. Malosi adds a nice second punch to the pair so if the defender hits, at least the effects don’t occur.

3 Likes
7

My roster got deep pretty quick once we started killing 14* titans on a regular basis. The ascension materials seem to come in waves. I’ve gone from rare quest to rare quest without getting any 4* materials. And I’ve had days were I’ve gotten 3 of those materials via titan, mystic vision and regular monster chest in one day. When that happens, it seems to be the same thing. It’ll be scopes one day and then I’ll catch a wave of rings, etc.

That’s allowed me to max some “luxury” heroes. But they’ve been proven to be quite useful. One is Snow White, who has become one of my favorite heroes to raid with. Especially against a buff heavy team. She just decimates and wipes out all buffs and ailments.

Another is Puss in Boots who has also proven very useful to use with my minion heroes. Puss allows for a team that does no direct damage and just kills the enemy with a slow death by minion. Which is pretty fun to watch.

Also, I just maxed Marie-Therese who is pretty powerful. I’m just waiting to put more emblems on a different monk before putting a few on her. Her revive skill is quite powerful. I hate facing her in raids.

Lord Loki was an easy decision to max. The enemy skill stealing is so much fun to use in raids and wars.

If you have the staple heroes maxed in a certain color, it’s fun to max some of those luxury heroes.

2 Likes
8

Hi! Lovely choices, here’s my 2 cents…

RED: I vote for Elena. She does get shaded for being slow but I have her at 4/80 and she’s useful even without the costume. As @Quinn3 and @XpeepantsX said, the sniper kamikazes against her are worth it. I have Jean-Francois maxed and I used to have him fully emblemed (I robbed him to pay Alfrike) and I just don’t particularly care for him or find him all that impressive.

PURPLE: If you have 12 tabards, give some to Grimble. He’s a sturdy little fella and he has a lot of utility and can be such a joykiller for minionskanks.

YELLOW: Bai Yeong, the bane of my poor Alfrike’s existence. Rana’s pretty solid too.

GREEN: Tarlak 100% because you don’'t have Miki or Gazelle. I use both Miki and Gazelle against titans, depending on the colour, and it changed everything. I had Miki at 3/70 for ages and he was still useful, but it changed when he went all the way up… Lianna and Yunan are great, but with Kingston there you need Lianna less. Pleeeease don’t do Bertie with those choices!

BLUE: Magni. One of the best o.g heroes and still super annoying to raid against and a super good snipe.

Good luck!

1 Like
9

Wow! Very insightful responses. Really appreciated!

Because of your feedback, I’m now leaning towards Elena. Riposte would add novelty to my roster. Her hit-all damage is not bad as well. I’ll try to give her some emblems in the future as I think the ress would be very beneficial, her being slow and so squishy.

I’m also pulling the trigger on Bai. I’m a huge fan of Malosi and never realized Bai could be somewhat similar, but complementary at the same time. In an age of Frigg, Odin, Killhare and Alfrike, that 75% blind could mean the difference between winning and losing a match.

As for blue, I guess it’s Magni, then. Not much to comment on.

I also slept on it and decided to give purple a little more time. Purple is probably my weakest color and despite having 12 tabards, I wouldn’t be bringing Grimble to battle outside of a minion scenario. While that happens more often than never, I might give a month or two. If nothing new comes along, then it’s Grimble.

Now green is where you guys got me really confused and I would like to hear more. Why Tarlak?! @Chadmo @rampej

I mean, my alliance kills 14* consistently and Tarlak does his thing at 3.70 without too many issues and I’m usually ranked at least B, if I don’t get too many horrible boards. He does die with a one hit, but usually I setup a scenario where this won’t happen. That includes attack debuff paired with a defense buff, arrows, time stops, damage link or even the good old ress scrolls if the worst end up happening.

In reflect green scenarios, I run Ranvir, also at 3.70. It sucks missing a lot, but I don’t have Gazelle, let alone Miki.

Why bringing Tarlak to 4.80 would change things so much?

1 Like
10

That’s exactly my situation. I ascended Skadi before Magni and don’t regret at all. Shes deffinately more niche, but she’s great at what she does and best of all: really fun to play.

11

Tarlak, Miki and Gazelle are the best titan killing heroes in the game. Think about having Wu Kong without that annoying miss half the time. That’s what Tarlak does.

1 Like
12

Another good reason for tarlak is with mythic titan decrease in stats its gonna be good to have a few top strength boosters

1 Like
13

I’d agree with most here. You can’t actually choose wrong with the options you have.

But I’d recommend against Zulag. She’s very niche. Grimble is much better than most give the lil’ goat rider credit for. If I had to pick one of those, it would be him. If I was in your situation (12 tabbards), Grimble would get the nod.

3 Likes
14

So obvi you know Tarlak’s usefulness, you clearly are getting some mileage out of him already, and I was one of the people who kept Miki at 3/70 for like literally almost a year for the same logic you have about Tarlak. But that was also because I prioritised giving mats to Finley and Vela first, and I think the first reason I’d say Tarlak is because your other green contenders aren’t like… AS necessary to prioritise, because your green roster is already super solid and well-rounded.

It made a difference when I maxed Miki. I had to pay less attention to keeping him alive and can just throw him mana potions every so often, so it was easier to focus more on tiles against titans. My scores started going way way up after I maxed him. My little Miki recently helped me get a million score against a titan for the first time and I was pleased as punch. I think especially because you don’t have Miki or Gazelle, maxing Tarlak is the best thing you can do for making it easier on yourself in the titan sitch but also overall.

EDIT: Also, respect the choice for holding on to the tabards! I recently pulled Bera unexpectedly while I have Freya at 3/70 and I still can’t decide which minion lady will get them, so I’d love to have 12 sitting around.

15

A million damage is quite impressive! Congratulations! I usually hover somewhere between 150k and 350k. It depends on a number of factors.

I confess it would ease my conscious if we were talking about Miki instead of Tarlak, because Miki is by far the best damage booster.

But I totally see your point and I could see Tarlak also being useful in buff booster tournments, challange events (damage boosters go a long way in those last stages or even paired with Heimdall for some support heals against stronger oponents in wars and raids. It would also be insane using him alongside Ratatoskr and Gregorion. I still need a few tonics to make that happen but one can dream, right?

Thanks again for taking the time to help me.

EDIT: If I may, I would go for Freya first. She is already great by herself and synergizes greatly with other minion generators. Bera it easy to counter and there are a ton of other minion destroyers, so it’s not like she’s bringing anything unique to the table.