Idle Heroes — Middle Game Player Guide for Advanced Gamers

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Account Progression

I’m going to be breaking some of my advice up into progression points. At certain points in the game, the optimal action is not the same as another point. Here is how i define them.

• Early Game: You either have a team of 5★s, or a mix of 5★ and 6★s. Its hard to make a plan for heroes at this point in the game, and your resources are very limited.
• Mid Game: You have an E3 and working towards more, maybe a 10★ support healer or Heartwatcher. You should have a decent grasp on the game, and a plan on heroes you want to level and how.
• End Game: A team composed entirely of E3-5. Your PvP and PvE teams aren’t the same. You are crushing it.

General Info

Daily Quest Skipping:

• There was an old strategy where you only complete the daily quests when you had the free Heroic Summon. When this wasn’t up, you completed all but Heroic Summon and 2x Casino spins.
• If you look at the Google Sheet i linked above, on the tab for Daily Quests, it shows that the difference between the 2 is pretty small. And if the advantage goes anywhere, its probably on the side of completing every day. So for now on, i will be completing it. For sure EVERYONE should complete it during a HS Event.

Gem Spending Priority and Gem Hoarding Strategy

Gem Events

• Gem Boxes (~10k)
• Grey Dwarf (up to 8k)
• Holiday Events (Easter, CNY, Anniversary, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, New Years)

Gem Spending Priority(outside of card users)

• Early Game: Spend gems on Event Raid Hero Challenge and the Tavern. Save the rest for events, specifically the Gem Box Event. You probably want a minimum of 10k. At some point you should also pick up a class set for your first E3 or E5 from the blacksmith event. When the months start getting close to a Holiday, save for those as well. Good chance for special Holiday event to require gems.
• Mid Game: You income will be higher than before. Still make sure you have enough for any Gem Box event, and save for the Holiday events. At this point if you have spare gems i recommend buying the 5x POs for 2250 Gems.
• Late Game: You be cranking out gems pretty decently between everything. Still save for all events like you did in the Early game, but any excess pick up the Daily 8x HSs for 1k Gems from the Marketplace. We are trying to get 2k before Xmas and Chinese New Year/Anniversary. The benefits of obtaining the hew hotness are worth it. Also the only events that will ever give F2P players the chance at P2W artifacts will more than likely require 2k+ HSs.

Gem Hording

• I tend to horde gems up to 20k and try not to dip below unless i’m dropping gems on an event like Gem boxes. Anything over that amount i spend. This way you will never get taken unawares by the devious Devs that drop random events on us at the worst times. 20k is purely arbitrary and you can decide on your own value if you want. The idea behind mine is to have enough for Gem Boxes plus like 5-8k in reserve.

Game Advice

• There are so many people with so many different ideas on how to play. Some people know their stuff, others don’t. Some people are nice and trying to help but have no clue how the game actually works. Some people make opinions sound like facts. I find myself doing the last alot. Some people even do some crazy math on things that help all of us out, but not everything can be mathed out and quantified. Because a large portion of this game is basically gambling (RNG), there is too much hypothetical actions and results that could play out. I play and advise a certain way, and some disagree. Really it breaks down into 2 main ideas. Spending for “efficiency” and progress, or saving for big event gains and possible higher rate of progress. Is either wrong? Nah. What i’m saying is be careful who you listen to and play like u want.
• The game CHANGES. From start to now, this game has changed alot. Events, player growth rates, heroes, PvE Meta, PvP Meta, it all changes. If you don’t adapt, you will lose. Valk is a stellar example of this. She changed the PvP meta hardcore. It was a great change from speed CC rules all. Yet people rant about her constantly. She is very powerful (a touch too much), but she has to be for 1 unit to change a meta. So build her, build her counters, or lose and complain. Adapt or die. I’m pointing this out because there are quite a few that haven’t adapted well that still give advice, so keep this in mind.
• In conclusion, be skeptical, do your own research before buying in fully to any idea, and then use your brain to decide. In the end, you are in charge of you. There are quite a few times a little self research or even just THOUGHT about a topic could resolve peoples problems and more places a little patience would have helped. Use your brain if you want to do well, its all on you.

Early Game

• I see questions in the line-up thread all the time. Am i doing it right? Who should i focus on? With a full team of 5★s, this is not a question that is needed. At 5★, all your heroes are poop. Should you replace poop in your line-up for slightly better poop? Sure, but its still poop. At this point in the game, the gear, artifact, and Treasure gem is more important than your hero. Of the heroes you have currently, you have no way of knowing which ones you will obtain more copies of. So here is the blanket advice.
  • Build every hero to 6★ you can. It doesn’t matter. If you have 2 copies of it, build it. Put it on your team. 2 Faceless, is she good? Nope, build her anyways. This will not hurt you in the least. What you are building is fodder. Fodder is needed in the THOUSANDS (NOT exaggerating anymore) in this game. So build without worry. If you find a top tier hero and have 2 copies, then its time to focus in and see if you can make things happen.
  • The only thing (hero wise) you can do wrong is sacrifice a top tier hero to ★ up another one. How do you avoid this? WELL, i’m glad you asked. You can also check out my other Guide Here
• I’m not saying to never post in the Line-up thread with questions either. Just that posting with a team of 5★s is a waste of time. Most people don’t know how to respond so they don’t. Most of the time i tell them “You have these 3 good heroes, rest are fodder, don’t sacrifice the good ones, build 6 stars, cheers.” All of which with a little research they could probably have figured out. If you have a varied line-up of 6★-10★ heroes and you want to know treasure stone builds, artifacts, if its worth proceeding with a hero in your comp, if you should sacrifice a mid-tier hero for a top tier, those are good questions. Keep in mind that just because they answered you doesn’t always mean they are right either Haha.

Importance of Gold

• Can’t stress this enough. DO NOT waste your gold. SAVE IT. Gold is used in high quantity for all of the above. In massive numbers. A full team of E5, Max Tech, Celestial Stones, and Pet are easily in the BILLIONS of Gold. Best to start saving now. That blacksmith event is killer early on, but still worth… sometime for only partial completes.
• So be careful spending gold on:
  • Blacksmith Upgrades
  • Leveling heroes (YOU DON’T NEED TO LEVEL THEM ALL and fodder heroes only to 100)
  • Treasure stones for non-Tier 1 heroes.
• There are thankfully alot of places to earn gold as well.
  • The Guild mill is a great early place
  • Celestial Island is another good place. Clearing Gold mines and the Islands can net like 6m a day.
  • Making sure to stay on top of the Campaign 8 hour timer
  • Broken Spaces monthly event. Very doable 45m even for Noobies
  • Aspen Smashes
  • Fusion Event

Account Progression

• Account progression is impacted by 2 main things, fodder, and Hero Copies.
  • Neither is more or less important than the other. Without Good hero copies, all the fodder in the world won’t help you. If you have the hero copies and no fodder, same. You need both. As i see it Events are mostly important for Hero Copies, and 4★ Shards will be your solution to fodder issues.
  • I have a guide on the best way i have found to progress. Its to focus 1 hero, and ignore all else. Here is the guide Here. I recommend Reading that thread more than this one. While still useful, this one just doesn’t have an big an impact.

Importance of 4★ Heroes

• 4★ Heroes shards will make up a large portion of your consistent acnt growth. You build their numbers daily, in small amounts. By the end of the month, they add up. On top of that, with the monthly Fusion quest, the first 20 5★ you make reward you gold, which you will need. They should be picked up at every chance.
  • Marketplace: 30x Shard for 1.5m Gold
  • Seal Land: Smash daily for the most you can.
  • Event Raid Hero Challenge: Spend gems for extra completes here. All that you can EVERYDAY.
  • Tavern Quests
  • Aspen Dungeon: The Lady Dude sells 30x for 1.5m
• Done right, you should be able to pick up 3000-8000 Shards a month depending on your status.

Events

Obtaining hero copies in this game is all about events. Generally, there are 2-3 events each week starting on Thurs. The events themselves reward a player for doing what they were already going to be doing, just saved up and done all at once. The best way to get hero copies is to save for Events. The best way to do events is to properly prepare and pool resources ahead of time. Scrambling and using random resources causes such a huge loss to overall progression, at those times its better to just pass on the event. You shouldn’t be doing anything outside its associated event to maximize your results with no extra effort beyond BEING PATIENT. I have put little notes in each section on how i feel this is best accomplished. The following are things i see people doing WRONG:

• They spend Heroic Scrolls, Prophet Orbs, Casino Coins, 4★ or 5★ Hero Tokens at any point outside their specific events.
• They will use resources on odd events to accomplish them at a crazy cost (using 20 Prophet Orbs for Miracle).
• A very common mistake: They use hard earned resources on an event that does not give them anything they need. Do you really want to use 80 Prophet Orbs for that a copy of Starlight who you will never build? Be patient and wait for the next Event if the reward is not something you want to build, its only 3-4 weeks away.

Opportunity Costs

• A big argument with saving for events is this “Opportunity Cost” of not spending your resources. What they mean is that for not spending your resources, you obtain less fodder to ★ up your heroes. Without leveling your heroes, you accomplish less than someone who does. Alot of the debate is wrapped up in this hypothetical… for both sides. Meaning if you skip an 80 PO event turn-in because you won’t build the hero event reward, you miss out on fodder for an entire month that the person that does spend 80 POs each month has access to. Thus they earn more than you in various ways with their increased power.
  • Early Game: Yes spend 80 Orbs each time you have them. Don’t worry as much about the reward Heroes. You are just focusing on getting copies from the orbs and your branches. Plus you need all the fodder at this point. You don’t have massive 4★ Farm going yet.
  • Mid Game: I think its worth waiting for a hero you might need. Don’t hold your breath for a Valk or any Top Tier Light/Dark to be the PO reward, but there are still good ones offered. Horus, Vesa, Sig, KB have all been up there. A few times for Special events they throw up a Light/Dark. Like i said tho, don’t hold your breath and don’t hold back if you already have 320+ Orbs.
• For the best heroes in the game, you are gated by hero copies. DH took 2 steps forward with the release of the Feather Shop. At that same time they took 1 step back, as it appears that heroes of a similar caliber with Valk won’t be gracing many events anymore.
• One of the things that is rarely mentioned in talks about people saving is the special events. Anniversary, Thanksgiving, CNY, and X-mas (sometimes others like Easter or Halloween) will have special events. Its always random, but almost always good. Generally its these events that the P2W artifacts are available without money, and no other time. The catch is they require a decent surplus of Resources. Thanksgiving event is a great example. 240 POs and 60 SCC, and you got Xia, Amvour +Skin, Runes Power, and Kiss of Ghost. Is it worth delaying your progression to obtain such things? Hell yes. Without a doubt. <– My Opinion How much are the P2W Artifacts worth? Most take $100-$300 to obtain. What is it worth to you to have a chance to obtain them without money. That is my answer to opportunity costs. The downside it the randomness, unpredictability, and inconsistency of the events, but the upside is possibly obtaining an item that at the higher ends of the game is a difference maker between you and the next person.

Monthly Events

• With the release of monthly events a few things have changed… for the better. We have more time to complete events, AND they released the feather Shop.
• Golden Feather shop: This shop is so amazing for progression. If you focus most of your effort into obtaining feathers over all else, you can get any hero you want. Heroes unobtainable by normal players like the new Light/Dark hotness can actually be built. I recently saved up and used 560 Feathers to get all the rest of the copies i needed of Aida to E5 her. Game changer here if used properly.

Fusion Event: (Monthly Event)

• A large portion of your account growth will come from this event. Each day you will do each of the things that provides 4★ shards. We will use those to make our 5★s as discussed above.
• Because this is now a monthly event, you can now double dip with Heroic Miracle if you wish. I do it, but some don’t like to wait. Just make sure you do have enough for the Heroic Miracle event.

Militant: (Monthly Event)

• You just have to fight a lot. Keep in mind you get less points for losses, SO DON’T LOSE. Some of the event is based in the crystal crown league, and the other will be in the Trial of the Champion. Both require 200 wins, and reward Golden Feathers for a full completion.
  
• Buy the Marketplace 5x Tickets for 300k every day. That is 150 Tickets a Month. Rest you will have to get from Aspen, or buy with gems from Aspen. Technically you get 2000 Gems from Trial as reward. Its obviously best if you don’t have to reinvest those to complete it. It can be done EVERY month, and SHOULD be. Those elite shards are going to give you more Groots, but you will get those shards anyways cause #Hope.

Tavern Event: (Monthly event)

• This is the EASIEST event. I use my Tavern Re-roll strat, and its a non-issue to complete this. For being the easiest event, it has some killer rewards. 20 Prophet Orbs! It doesn’t require much prep work. While re-rolling tavern quests, save two 7★ quests, and five 6★ quests. Saving the quests means you put heroes in them to complete them. Let the timer run, but instead of clicking the “Complete” button, you just leave them floating.

Broken Spaces: (Monthly event)

This event has a set of bosses to kill for rewards. Pretty basic. The first tier is pretty doable by almost anyone. The 2nd and 3rd take a bit more. The 3rd is outright insane with billions of HP, and Damage Reduction through the roof.

• My advice, as soon as you can, complete the gold challenge. Focus on it above all else. Continue to complete it every month even if it costs all your tokens each month. That 45m Gold is a godsend. After that focus on Montser resources. The Dust is pretty worthless ATM.
• The 2nd and 3rd tiers reward feathers which is really the only reason to complete anything but the Gold Fight. Feathers are very valuable, so if you can complete them then do so.

Heroic Summon Event:

• 500 HS are needed to complete the event. Can be completed 4 times. The summon event is THE hardest event to complete.

• Due to the restructuring of the 3 big events and the ability to repeat 4 times, i have changed my approach to this event.
  • Early Game: Spend 100 or 500 as you can. I prefer the 500, as i focus on the Feathers all i can. If you can’t wait for 500, then do the 100 summon. Its tech the most efficient event there is. Missing those 15 feathers i feel is a bad idea tho.
  • Mid Game: Complete the 500 summon for a top tier Hero and Feathers or start saving 2k for a Holiday event. Mid game is long, so it kinda depends where you are, and how much patience you have. Saving 2k is not for everyone i’m told. The earlier you start, the more likely you will be to have top tier heroes and artifacts for your End Game team.
  • End Game: Save 2k. The. New. Hotness.
• Reasons for 2k saving:
  • Most special events seem to be taking into acnt that it is possible to complete 4 times, thus to obtain some of the best rewards you will NEED to complete it 4 times.
  • The release of a new OP hero. Most new heroes are OP with the ever scaling hero powers. 2000 scrolls gives 4 copies (almost 5 with feathers) of that hero and a good likelihood of 3-5 more, thus handing you a new OP E3-E5.
  • Chance at P2W artifacts. So far, they are still behind a $100 paywall for the last few events even with 2000 HS used. If P2W artifacts are going to be had, this is how it will probably happen though. A few have been obtainable tho. Antlers Cane for Xmas, Kiss of Ghost for Thanksgiving, and a few prior to the event changes.
• The odds are 1.58% to summon a 5★ normally. 3.16% in a summoning event. Never summon outside the event.
• This event is very hard on Hero room. Be careful what you are sacrificing on the Altar, and remember that keeping as many heroes in token form as you can helps a lot.

Prophet Orb Event

• 80 orbs are needed to complete this event. It can be completed 4 times. All rewards from the Prophet Orbs are awarded in Token form.
• Keeping rewards in Token form helps:
  • Hero space, its fairly limited. Token space is limitless.
  • With how random Shelter events are, keep even 4★ heroes (x120)
• Ways to obtain Prophet Orbs:
  • Completing Events (25 from Monthly)
  • Aspen Old Dude 5x POs for 2250 gems
  • Super Casino
  • PvP Vendor
• Early Game: Save up 80 Orbs and spend on the next event. Don’t worry about event skipping because of the hero reward at this point.
• Mid Game: If the Hero reward is not one you plan to build, skipping is a good idea. Because it can be completed up to 4 times, each time you skip adds one potential hero copy of the same hero. Going very far over 240 should be pretty rare though. I also buy the 5x POs from Aspen, eventually stopping once i start to focus on HSs.
• Saving opens up your options and affords the power of choice. There are “opportunity costs” associated with this choice as well. You have to weigh the delay of progress against good hero copies and special events.
• The caliber of hero offered in this event has dropped. Don’t expect Valk or any Light/Darks for the Event Completion reward in its current form (outside Holidays)
• Early on you should orb to supplement your first 10★ choice, which should coincide with the same faction you plan to E3 first. This will help speed your way to E3. When choosing might keep in mind the number of good heroes in Abyss and Forest compared to the others.

Heroic Miracle

• For this event you need to summon or craft 5★s, 2 each of Light and Dark, and 3 each of Abyss, Shadow, Forest, and Fortress. This rewards a good 5★ hero, some nice HS or POs, and some nice orange gear. Here are some tips.
  • With the Release of the Monthly Events, you can save all Creation Circle 5★ fuses for this event. For those early on in progression, its an advantage you should probably take advantage of.

Heart Summons to supplement –> Creation Circle Crafts Then –> Specific Hero Tokens

Shelter Event

• Shelter Events are a set of trades that can be done for a reward. Its had some varied requirements, and generally not top tier heroes. Sometimes gems, sometimes 4★ shadow assassins, sometimes two 5★ heroes, sometimes gold, and/or a random mix of things. Since it is random, be careful how you scramble to obtain the heroes.
•  Stash:
  • 120x 4★ of each Heroes Token
  • 6k Gems, 60m Gold
  • 5★ Fodders of each faction (2x to be safe)
• My last advice is to think twice before getting any Light/Darks from this event. Trading 2 L/D fodder in for 1 hero is costly. With the other factions, wouldn’t be as big a deal. Since its rarely a top tier light/dark, its usually not worth it. Make sure if you trade, you intend to build.

Grey Dwarf Event

All of these upgrades are worth it, but this event is very expensive to continually complete. Armor is more important that most realize especially early game. Save BEFORE it arrives.

Casino Event

• Casino event, to me, is the worst of the repeatable events due to its lack of fodder, and has the corresponding lowest value on the spreadsheet. You can pick up many Casino Chips from:
  • Marketplace 8x Chips for 240 Gems
  • Aspen Deals for Gold and Gems.
  • Tavern
• I don’t like spending gems on Casino Coins. Mostly i think this is the main value of Aspen. Casino coins for gold. We get way less than we used to, but we still get some.
  • Early Game: While its the worst valued event, it also has some pretty good benefits for low level players. Namely Gold, 4★ Shards, and Sacrificial Artifacts. Gold we all find is a huge issue early on, and this helps a little with that. Because it does have a decent use early on, i will leave it up to you if u want to spend gems on this.
  • Mid Game: Buy your Aspen deals for Gold, and complete when you can. The POs for completing the event are nice and generally so is the gold, but its not worth our gems at this point. Complete when you can and don’t worry too much about it.
• Alot of the value for this event comes from the gold value on the wheel, which changes. So refresh your wheel until you have a good gold value on it. Take your time, you have all week to get a good roll.
• While refreshing the wheel, if you come across a 4★ L/D shard, spin until you get them. Nets a few more of the elusive L/D fodders.

Treasure Chest

• This event is sometimes really AWESUM and other times….bleh. This event is a big sale of Boxes for Gems. This formula seems to be changing from week to week, and so the gem prices on the boxes are varied. 4k hero boxes, 6k Guild Coin boxes. The box that makes or breaks this event is the box with the guild coins. This is a huge boost to guild coins, but the randomness of the box can really boost or diminish its value. You will have to personally weigh it each time, but it seems to be trending downwards in value with just an orange artifact.
  
• You want to have at least 12k gems saved up each time for this event. The 1st, and 3rd boxes are usually must buys. The 2nd box is a crap value. To be worth it to me, it would need to roughly cost 500 like the first box. The 4th box with random shards and dust no one needs is pretty bad deal as well. The 5th i would generally say to get if u can afford it just for the Guild coins, but if you are tight on gems its fine to leave it if Guild Coins is really all thats good in it.

Heroes

If you go into the “Hero” menu, and click the gallery on the right side, you can see all heroes available. You can read hero abilities and more importantly you can see the 10★ versions of heroes. The 10★ heroes change a little from their former versions. This also lets you see which heroes CAN be 10★s, as not all heroes can. Read up and decide for yourself who you want. That’s part of the fun right? Check my other guide if you would like to know who to keep or not.

• Hero Class: There are 3 Classes of heroes the way i break it down
  • The Class 1 – 10+★ heroes (5 star base)
  • The class 2 – 9★ heroes (4★ base, can be found in 5★ though)
  • The class 3 – 5★ heroes (4★ base)
• Why are those categories important?
  • The Class 1 heroes are 5★ only heroes, meaning they are harder to get. You should be picking your end game team from these heroes. Everything else is fodder. Just because it is a class one hero does not mean its a strong hero. Focus on hero skills and read carefully. When sacrificing heroes try NOT to use this class of hero if you aren’t sure how good it is. Dominator, Faceless, Kharma, Fat Mu, Gusta, and Lord Balrog are fodder-worthy.
  • The Class 2 heroes are useful, especially early on. They all have 4★ versions that can be obtained very easily and can thus be changed into a 6★ hero much faster. This is also useful to puzzle out because they max out at 9★. That means they are the best choice for a 9★ sacrifice. Class 2 minions make the 9★ sacrifice much easier than than using a harder to obtain Class 1 hero that might make a better 10★ sacrifice. Norma for early progression, and Aleria for marauders that don’t attack the front row, are the only worthwhile heroes outside of being fodder. And Sierra cause dem tiddies level up with her.
  • The class 3 heroes, while being absolute garbage, are very useful as 5★ sacrifices. That’s it though. They are my main source of fodder.
• Had a decent amount of questions concerning ★s. So here is the level up rundown. 6★ by combining 5★s at the creation circle. Once at 6★, click on the hero you want to upgrade and go to the upgrade tab.
  

Best Heroes

• There are a limited number of places to obtain the best heroes in this game, most with a TINY chance.
  • Event Completion Rewards
  • Heroic Scrolls
  • Prophet Orbs
  • Prophet Branches
  • Super “Wishing well”
  • Elite Shards
  • Feather Shop
• The 5★ Hero shards cannot give any top tier heroes. Prioritizing Prophet Orbs, Heroic scrolls, and events will progress your hero copies more than anything else. Knowing this helps you understand where to spend resources, and what to prioritize if you have many options.
• Light and Dark heroes are harder to get and level. Taking multiple L/D units past 7★ is really hard. For this reason, don’t level any L/D until you have enough copies of the hero to at least 10★+ the hero.
• Treasure gems: They are the item on the lower left of the hero. Any hero you don’t plan to take to 10★, don’t take past a Green stone. If you have picked the hero or heroes you plan to 10★, its not a waste to take it to the max if you have ample resources and know the proper stone. Never lock in the stats.

Tavern

• You have the ability to reset your tavern quests that are available for 10 gems per quest re-rolled. Maybe this doesn’t seem like a good idea, but in general it is. My formula is this:
  • Do any quest that gives over 20 gems.
  • Do any quest that gives heroic summon scrolls
  • Do any 5★ quest that gives 4★ token pieces
  • Do any and all 6 and 7★s
  • Re-roll the rest and repeat
  • Caveat: This has worked for me at Vip3 and higher. Vip0 i have been told is risky for 7★ Quests.
• The idea is this. The only items i really care about are the HS, and the gems (and a little for 4★ Shards). Because gems are so useful, i focus on gaining them over pretty much everything. Anything that can be bought with gold, has less value here.
• This is my alternative to losing gems on a near daily basis, and know that i have never missed completing a Tavern event. If i had, strat would have changed. That is for 7 Tavern Quests tho at ViP 3.

Marketplace

• Buy every day:
  • 5x Arena Ticket for 300k Gold
  • 3★ Fodders for Gold
  • 4★ Fodder for Gold
• If you are over 20k Gems, and preparing for the 2000 HS events
  • 8x Heroic Scrolls for 1000 Gems
• PO for 500
  • Early on you won’t have spare gems. Later you have access to Aspen and its better. This is not really worth.

Campaign

• Every 8 hours, the loot and exp max out. Open the campaign screen to resume the gain.
• End farming levels divisible by 5. You can obtain shards this way
• At level 175 Orange Artifact shards start dropping, 177 for Artifacts and 5★ shards.

Blacksmith

• Do not upgrade any armor under Orange 1★.
• For the daily quest, make the 3 cheapest armors. Never sell low tier armors, just keep using them for the Daily.
• This is a place that you can waste gold if u aren’t careful. Be smart.

Pets (Monster)