I wanted to do something on this forum, some kind of series of discussion panels.
The idea is to discuss old heroes that years ago used to be very good and meta. How they hold now?
So, why don’t use general discussion topics about this hero? To not confuse new players who are looking for info about them, this is suppose to be topics for old players about old times.
Topics will appear periodically, maybe every two weeks? I’m not sure yet. Tell me if I should continue with these or not.
Anyway, let’s start with the one 4* hero everybody wanted back in 2019/2020, beloved support WILBUR
I received Wilbur relatively early in my playing time (probably 2019). He obviously helped on titans and I still use him there today. Even if other heroes have -44% defense, I would question their value over the shared damage (which helps keep everyone alive).
I also tried using him in war a lot with Falcon. What I found is the all average red team wasn’t good enough. It didn’t do enough damage and relied on everyone stacking and getting more red tiles. Unfortunately what would happen is one or two of my heroes would die, then I’d fire Wilbur and then the enemy became harder to kill because they shared damage.
Wilbur is unique and that’s why he stands out. There are better defense down options, but his ability to share damage on both sides is what stands out. At this point, I almost exclusively use him on titans for the defense down and keeping my team alive. If you’re a new player, I’d be okay skipping him if you get a better defense down option. Pure titan heroes can have some ROI early in the game, but at a certain point they don’t deliver much (you’re either chaining 14s or a minor change won’t change the star of your titans significantly long term). So I guess I’d say, yeah if you get wilbur go ahead and max him. I guess you could say even if you don’t use his base version, his costume will help too one day. But more likely I’d be focusing on costumes for classic heroes. Costume keys come more often and the repeatability and stat boost make them more versatile.
Does he need changing? He’s unique in a way that he stands out. I guess I could think what would make him more usable. First thought is faster speed. A fast hero could be useful in war to survive big hits. Otherwise you’d have to increase his usability with something like damage, heal, cleanse, uncleansable/undispellable.
I remember running into him in season 2 early on. Those levels took a long time to finish, but were easy because he would never kill you.
Yes. For evverything at first, eventually got replaced in all uses except challenge events, where he still is meta and even persists in legenday difficulty.
see 1.
see 1.
yes, for challenge events (and titans for many)
Not.
Amazing hero. Not many heroes of his age are still top notch in their niche today.
I used to use Wilbur on every titan attack team, teamed with Wu Kong. Those two plus three strong colour heroes. These days I still use him but only against blue titans. He also gets used in Tavern of Legends and Epic tier events. On occasion he will make it onto my second mono red war team if I need it.
Still one of my better maxed 4*'s.
Another ol’ reliable I use daily is uncostumed Ariel, who used to be among the best (if not THE best) healers in the game. She is still in my best 2 with LotL and is on every raid attack team I use.
1a yes
1b yes
1c event, seasons activities, PvP, tournament and wars.
2 stats and costume bonus too low, seemed devs qant to make him disappear one day.
3 yes
4 buff his stats and costume bonus.
Wilbur was probably my first “game changer” hero. Suddenly PvE was always feasible.
He obviously doesn’t shine as bright today, but I think he would if I were a newer player. I still use him (and his costume) on green titans. Actually that team is Khufu / c2-Boldtusk / Wilbur / c-Wilbur / Buster, and easily does 100k hits.
I wouldn’t really change him. He serves his purpose well. Faster mana would obviously be welcome, but I don’t think it’s really needed.
Your memories with this hero I was stoked when I got him. I still use him in Epic CE. He’s still very handy. He did get 5* version in Cindy but I Wilbur requires much more common ascension material and can be used in 4* limited events or tournaments.
How Wilbur stands compared to today heroes? Interestingly 4* Power creep is not as big as 5* powercreep and due to his uniqueness he stands dent of time. His stat deficit can be somewhat treated by LB2. Plus he got a costume which allows him to fill another important role (Oceanus), though Shark Guy offers an alternative in this way. Still very viable.
Is Wilbur still worth maxing for new players? (consider POV of F2P, C2P and P2P) Yes, for the reasons stated above.
How would you change Wilbur? At most increase his stats.
General opinion about Wilbur Very useful for people not having many 5* or 4* AM, especially with costume.
Franz is a similar case, damage increasers are hard to come by, if you can’t get Hammertusk then he’s the best bet.
This will be probably surprise, but no. I am playing this game every day since 2019 and never pulled Wilbur, even once. S2 4*s really hates me, I never got Danzaburo, Gaderius and Agwe as well, but Wilbur was the hero I wanted the most out of these.
In my early days when I needed help most common response was “just use Wilbur” and when I said I don’t have him folks didn’t know what else to say He was surly The Hero amongst early game for new players, too bad I never experienced it
While his stats might be outdated, he is really unique and newer heroes rarely offers similar set of effects.
It’s just like C Gunnar and regular Gunnar combined, but stronger and faster. No matter how much you spend he can always be viable even today.
Maybe little stronger stats?
To this very day one of THE heroes I am still missing and I am sad about that fact. I don’t know if I’d use him today tho, but this judge isn’t justified as I don’t really have any experience with him and I know his power only from tales.
1. Did you have Wilbur? Did you use it? How?
Yes. Yes. Challenges, titans.
2. Your memories with this hero
My first non-S1 4* . He quickly replaced my red war tank (Ei-Dunn ). It was before LB2 and super talents (super wizards) and he even did well in this position. And I used him very long time in red team - now, I have more powerful heroes, so he is used rarely.
3. How Wilbur stands compared to today heroes?
He is unique, so still in play.
4. Is Wilbur still worth maxing for new players?
(consider POV of F2P, C2P and P2P)
As FTP, I say yes.
5. How would you change Wilbur?
I would add: “All allies are immune to buff dispell”
Or: “All enemies can’t get their status ailments cleansed.”
Or both
6. General opinion about Wilbur.
Everybody should have try to play with him. Not only titans or challenges, but try raids. It’s fun and more demanding to use him, as he can easily “betray” you if you don’t use him wisely.
I went a long time without Wilbur, reading about how awesome he was. I don’t remember exactly when he showed up for me, but I think I might have already finished S2 by the time he popped. Once I got him, I eagerly maxed him but he never impressed me much. I used him for titans until I got Sun Shangxiang. Now, he rides the pine pretty hard, only getting a look in buff booster content, and even then, he doesn’t always come out. Now that I think about it, maybe I should reset him to finish embleming Jabberwock!
I do remember facing - and being frustrated by - Wilbur in raids. That 2019-2020 period is when I was a player with a still-growing roster (started September 2018). I didn’t understand color stacking yet, so it felt like it was impossible to take down a team if Wilbur fired. Mostly, though, I remember Wilbur as the forum avatar of beloved (and long-since retired) moderator @Kerridoc . That dude brought the goods back it the day.
As I said, even with my FTP roster, I basically never use him, so I don’t think he stacks up very well. I don’t have the specials to massacre a whole soul connected team, and soul connect does screw up my tile damage now that I’ve learned to stack, so Wilbur feels like a liability. If I tried to be competitive in challenge events, maybe I’d have a different opinion, but fleeing over and over looking for a good board is not my idea of fun.
Depends on what they prioritize. For titans - especially high-star ones - he probably still has use. I fight baby titans, so the damage mitigation is not necessary, and as I said, Sun Shangxiang’s def down is better, but not everybody has her. And if you want to compete in challenge events, I’m sure he’s useful.
I’m not sure I would. He is what he’s supposed to be. It’s just that I don’t have a ton of need for what he’s supposed to be.
Wilbur is a hero whose skill is still reasonably unique today, and for that alone, I like him. Getting tired of cookie cutter specials and lazy costumes. Wilbur is very different, and I think that’s a good thing.
Cool idea for a series, @CL_Fire . I’ll try to watch for it and be more prompt with my responses.
I only got Wilbur after 5 years of playing the game. but he has helped me a lot in challenge events, for sure! that’s his main use for me, with his shared damage and defense down
I already filled my defense down needs for Titans.
He was surly The Hero amongst early game for new players, too bad I never experienced it 
. He quickly replaced my red war tank (Ei-Dunn