NevarMaor

I haven't done the tier 1 quests in years (Gather Food / Mine Iron / Gain Experience / Scavenge Resources). I don't consider them worth the time and effort (although I could just autoplay them, it's more rewarding to autoplay S1:8/7). I also don't bother with Tier 2 Battle Items or Crafting Materials for the same reason. I always need gems and ETT's so I do the other two.

I tend to struggle in the 4* sections since most of my maxed L2 4* are healers. Tends to be a laugh when I forget to change the default defence for 4* Bloody Battle tournaments. I have L2 Greg and Li Xiu as my main non-healers One of these days I have to get some better 4* done. Colen isn't even L1 ...

This I agree with. I never have enough gems to spend on Outfitter and on roster expansion and occasional 10-pulls (usually in costume chamber) and on 1-1 coaching.

My goal for hero coach is 3/70. I have been chronically short of Tomes for the entire time I've played the game so saving on having to use one of them is of great importance. I usually have 2-3x as many Blades, and enough of each AM for 3-5 heroes of each colour. But never enough Tomes. Thus Tomes are saved for the newest heroes I have not eligible for coaching. And I am always working on heroes that are eligible. Being a very cheap player I can't be all that picky -- although poor old Isrod has been sitting at 1/1 for 4 years now. At this point I have him as a collectible.

Ones I've wished I had over the years ... Hel Gravemaker Telluria (in her heyday of course) Roughian & Nurgib (wow, I did spell it right!) Eliane Chloris I would still gladly take any of them except probably Telly, who was nerfed to oblivion.

I would say it depends on what you are struggling against. If it's Bearnadette then Daemon is a contender with the v.fast talent block. Dispel is also handy. If it's mega minions then C.Jett neuters them pretty effectively. If it's boosted healers or regular minions then C.Xiaotu (also a good all-rounder who hits pretty hard). Keep in mind the costumes need to be levelled independent of Hero Coach.

Power is not a great measure of a hero's value. It is based only on the hero stats whereas a hero's value is more dependent on the synergies you can get with other heroes with their specials and secondary effects. Power will often indicate how sturdy a hero is for absorbing damage, but not so much for dealing damage.

They keep pushing the S1 costumes because everybody has S1 heroes and feel the need for the costumes. Thus, income. My issue with costumes in general is I have lots of costumed heroes sitting at 1/1. Especially the rares and epics.

Is elioty here? Or around?

Maybe it's I'm still using Ludwig on my defence. I pair him with Lady of the Lake. If the opponent lets Ludwig fire they probably struggle to get specials charged.

These days I find myself battling in the top 100 ... 000. My cup level seems to have stagnated over the last couple years while everyone else is surging past me. Weird thing is I have a less powerful defence set and I still wake up with more cups than the night before. Frustrating to be constantly matched with teams 8500+ though when my absolute best (rainbow) team is 7800.

My very first HOTM, in fact my very first 5*, was Aeron. I was so stoked when I got him! I used him as my primary healer (even at 3/70) for a good year until I had Ariel. Actually, when I got him I thought the game had glitched because it gave me two heroes from the same draw. It wasn't until after that I figured out what HOTM were. And, as I said a few times on the old forums, my next HOTM was Gregorion. Oh to have got the two HOTM between those two instead.

Seven is the new six

@ChadmoOne forumite I have missed

I now have two Gildas. Go figure. Did way more pulls in February. Also no Dvalin.

Aah, HOTM. I have quite a few now (thanks HA10), and use some pretty regularly. Even Malosi still gets some usage I think a lot of the constant disappointment in HOTM's comes from higher end players who are used to getting the better event heroes. We saw with Telluria what happens when a HOTM is one of the best. SG aren't likely to repeat that again. I am currently working on Aurox, and have both Nerasis and Liora on hold, although I have used Nerasis at 4/57 in wars. With both Vernon and Relius now in front of her it may be a while to get back to Liora. Next war I will probably be using Aurox (replacing May). I still use Viselus and Glenda, and only recently stopped using Gregorion. I have Claeg at 1/1 but I have better (to me) blue healing options. Maybe I need to re-look at him for the resistance to silence. Been facing lots of silencers lately, which can be very frustrating. The one HOTM I would have loved having earlier in the game was Gravemaker. And I remember the disdain that he got when first released on the old forums. "Ok, very fast but he hits like a deflated balloon!" Or words to that effect ...

I am amazed at the lack of "boards are ri&&ed" (don't know if certain words are banned here) threads so far Quite refreshing!

I missed that first time through

The no tiles issue is a problem for me against all defences. Especially annoying in wars. Last Skyfire war it took me 5 flags to get two kills. Sixth flag I faced Regin as the only team left alive -- goose egg.

Now that they've added the monthly bonus dragon draw I can't help thinking of Dragonspire more and more as just a costume for Stronghold.

Being a META hero depends also on the availability of counters to that hero. When Bearnadette was released she was absolutely META. I think there are enough counters to Bearnadette to keep her out of META now. I use C.Loki against her without too much trouble as long as the tiles are reasonably behaved. It does help having Mortewitch to finish her off. And I am working on Daemon as a second counter. Of course a lot depends on who she is teamed with. But if I have little difficulty against her that speaks volumes. I do struggle against Regin. For my bench I have as "my META" Vernon and Lempi. They will be my two strongest heroes by far once maxed. I also have Verity, who is awesome, and CB Thalassa. Hmmm, an abundance of blues ...

Currently for this quest I am at 93/300. Dragonspire has been out for well over a year (approaching two?). Compare that with Stronghold where I have already made two Fated Summons pulls in the latest set released in January, and three in the set before that. That's 500 pulls in well under a year. Without paying for them (well, maybe ten).

I got her, my first HOTM of 2026. I'll likely level her at some point but she's not at the front of the list. Maybe the upper middle class.

My Dragonspire retirement plan has stumbled on the devious trap of silver coin desolation. 15 gems is but a distant dream. Much like my wilting hopes of ever having a maxed 5* dragon.

It's a vicious circle. You need LB2 heroes to compete in the raid tournaments to get better loot, but you need the better loot from the raid tournaments to LB2 the heroes. It is -- by the original book title -- Catch 18. I am currently levelling Vernon and Lempi -- who will definitely go to LB2 -- Aurox, Daemon, and Xnolphod -- who will go to at least LB1. Xnol likely LB2 as my only non-slow purple healer (and I do have his costume). My next Hero Coach target is Vaishali at 3/70 to save on darts and a tome. Tomes are STILL my biggest shortfall in the game.