Rduke77 I think we can agree that, for a new player, investing hardly sought materials on a 5* hero that is half good only in combination with a long gone HOTM or a S3 hero that was yet to come is a bad move.
Fun fact: Evelyn would put the same materials to much better use 
@yhc Until you formulate a better alternative in computing the true power of each hero card, this will just go in vain. SG already have measured a hero’s worth through the CP but not factoring in the hero’s skills. Though I don’t subscribe ELO-type rating as it is subjective and may change due to the fact that this game creates new heroes at least every month. You have to make yours and hopefully gets enough vote for SG to consider it. Otherwise, all your effort answering threads like this will just go to waste. Go and make an equation showing the true hero power factoring not only their stats, but also their skills and usability.
I’m all for using a better war matchmaking system too, just for the record.
But hero power isn’t the only part of the equation that the current matchmaking system uses either.
The current issues expose more than just the problems with using hero card power for war matchmaking alone (alliances recreating themselves, win caps, emblems being the motivating factor in the above, etc)
So making a better power equation is only solving a small problem in the bigger picture.
Just something to think about before we continue discussing hero power as it relates to war matchmaking.
Edit – just noted you did mention it’s not the only factor too 
Since we are basically saying that determining the sheer power of a hero is impossible (too many variables) we could at least settle for its preferability.
I get that a lot of people here assume that the other players will follow their tracks BUT the sole presence on this forum indicates a huge bias on the voices being heard.
A lot of people, after “wasting” their precious materials (i.e. money and time) on sub-optimal heroes… quit.
If hero power has to be so unrevealing…
Let’s just take it off.
I guess that more or less any player is capable to understand that the more stars, stats and skill level the better.
Then we are in a passe. As it stands, the current hero CP made by SG is all what we have and need. The rest are pure talk with no further gain. Unless other players here in the forum are able to come up with a comprehensive solid hero power true value factoring all the stats, skills, usability, mana speed and even rarity or how difficult the hero is to be obtained or summoned. I guess its time for me to mute this thread. Good luck.
If you could possibly find a formula or a policy that ranked heroes better (perfectly?), thou, you really wouldn’t need anything else in that big picture except a troop adjustment.
Wars are fought on heroes (and boards 
).
NB it doesn’t have to be a real time formula because very few heroes spawn and get maxxed.
Given the “worth” of the full hero you can calculate its current worth as the current fraction of what it will be when maxxed.
Eh, he is still pretty decent…especially for a new player. If you are FTP or even CTP it may be a year or more before you see another green 5* hero. Elkanen is not that bad. Disclosure: as a CTP I have not ascended an Elkanen yet. He is certainly better than other options though. At least he’s fast mana.
Just to know, who are the we Ultra is giving voice to?
I, for instance, certainly don’t need CP as it stands.
That’s not so true.
I had a player who has leveled Elkanen or Kadilen right before drawing exactly Evelyn (dunno if money was involved, but I think so, because we were discussing in ally chat how cool she was).
It has then taken quite a while before he realized that materials were the true bottleneck and has quit.
Maybe…it can go both ways. You could get lucky and draw a nice green 5* tomorrow. But you could also literally wait a year or more. I tend to wait until I have 10 of a material before ascending an “ok” hero.