i want to shout out the base forms of S1 heroes that, with costume bonus and +20 emblem mana bonus, can fire in 6 tiles without needing a mana troop in Rush Attack: Belith, Li Xiu, Melendor, Bane, Friar Tuck, Jahangir, Caedmon, Skittleskull, Wu Kong, Sabina, Quintus, Kadilen, Leonidas, and Joon. especially in 3* and 4* tournaments, it’s so nice to have that when there aren’t mana troops at all.
in no particular order…
Belith: heal all and dispel is such a great combination, especially since Melendor does that at the 4* level.
Gunnar/ Kailani: base Gunnar is a bit better at this because of stats, but damage share is amazing, especially if you don’t have it at the 4* level from Wilbur. damage share is a good way to survive against titans.
Li Xiu: mana cut heroes will never not be annoying to face on defense, and she is the queen of 4* tournaments.
Melendor: people complain about heroes that aren’t synergized well (e.g., Wizard class on a hero whose special skill doesn’t do damage), but i don’t think it’s that bad at all. Melendor’s high attack stat can take the “high attack” slot on a titan team for tile damage and heal when you can’t get stuns. also useful in raids, especially in heavy-stacking teams because of the tile damage.
Rigard: universally beloved as the quintessential healer and cleanser, especially because it’s at average speed.
Marjana: combination of stats and Rogue class make her survivable. i love bringing her out for old time’s sake when a war hit needs her snipe.
Lianna: ol’ reliable. i kept her at +7 emblems for the longest time, and she was still able to take people down. i needed to bump her up to +12, but she’s back to her old killing ways.
Domitia: imo, some of the sexiest artwork in the game 
Magni: crazy high attack stat, self and nearby defense buff of +63% at fast speed is awesome. Magni is a fixture on my red titan team because he protects Gazelle, and Gazelle protects him.
Leonidas: i used him for a long time, and i still haven’t gotten his costume, but he’s still another ol’ reliable for me. even in Rush Attack, -40% mana to the target actually matters because it means you can freely make a match into an opponent and still not charge them. you know how a bunch of players used to have comeback wins with Tyr? that was me with Leonidas (because i never got Tyr) because of the self healing and the mana cut. Leo is probably one of my favorite S1.
Khagan: people have already mentioned it, but the dude hits hard. yeah, he’s a glass cannon, but he does his job well, especially in Rush Attack and in events. on map stages, the mana buff and defense buff are both mighty nice, especially when you run slower heroes at his flanks.
Caedmon: he and Melendor (well, C. Melendor) have been staples on my double-dispel green team, which i often bring against Taunt heroes, even against Black Knight. one dispel for the Taunt, the second dispel for the attack boosts or whatever else is on all allies. pretty dang survivable too if you emblem him for defense and HP. he’s a fixture on my tournament attack teams, especially Bloody Battle.
Sonya: Caedmon’s counterpart in blue, and she was my first 4* hero ever, and i STILL use her every day. she was the first to introduce to me my love of dispel heroes, and she is tanky, both in terms of stats and in terms of the help she gets from her Paladin class.
Scarlett: idk, i think the glass cannons get no love, but Scarlett is still on my titan team, and she’s still got an insane attack stat. i think mine’s currently at 895, and that’s without CB because i still haven’t pulled C. Scarlett and without LB because i haven’t LB my 4* heroes yet.
Boldtusk: so many ol’ reliable healers. honestly, though, the most valuable thing for me with BT is the attack boost. it saved my butt yesterday in a Rush Attack hit!
