Heroes, days 1-7: best lineup, levels, skills, gear

This is the first part of a series on heroes by the day they appear on the server. Here: the starting squad for days 1 to 7, the order for leveling heroes and skills, and the order for crafting gold gear. Next: days 8-31 and days 32-99.

Factions, roles and the faction bonus

All heroes are split into three factions:

And into three roles: Tanks (shield emblem), DPS (blast emblem) and Support. Tanks always stand in the front row and take the main damage, everyone else stands in the second row. The most reliable setup: two tanks in front, two DPS and one support behind.

Factions beat each other in a circle - each takes 20% less damage from one of the other two:

• Rangers take 20% less damage from Warriors;
• Warlocks take 20% less from Rangers;
• Warriors take 20% less from Warlocks.

What people miss most at the start is the Faction Bonus for having heroes of one faction in the squad. It raises HP, ATK and DEF of all heroes in battle:

+20% for five heroes of one faction is a huge boost at any stage of the game. According to the author, the bonus works from the very start, even though the game only mentions it later: you can see it in battle reports.

Starting squad: five Warriors

There is no point in starting without Marlena for 0.99 USD (details in the F2P start): at 10 stars she almost single-handedly takes down two fully upgraded tanks, Arthur and Daskal. The other four heroes are Warriors too, to get +20% right away.

Marlena. Her ultimate Peerless Blade sends blade whirlwinds at random enemies, and her active Crimson Bloom explodes over an area - damage to several targets at once. Pour all UR hero shards into her until she reaches 10 stars. For any hero, the 5 gold stars come first, then the 5 red ones.

Arthur. The second UR Warrior of the start, and the main tank. According to the author, the Tavern gives him for the first 50 Recruit Tickets, and after that guarantees 10 shards for every 50 tickets.

Bella. At the start almost everything is about PvE: the Cursed Forest and the monsters on the world map that drop resources. Bella has two skills specifically against monsters: the active Crimson Prayer reduces damage from monsters for 3s, and the passive Purity reduces it all the time. Her shards drop often and she levels fast. The author does not advise buying her shards in the Alliance Shop at this stage: speedups matter more at the start.

Celia. She drops early, the game gives her shards generously, and you can get more in the event Celia's Hunting Day.

Claire. You need a fifth Warrior for the full bonus. At the start more Claire shards drop than for Kesso and Sivir, and her ultimate Celestial Judgment is a powerful area strike. Apart from Marlena, none of the starting heroes has anything like it.

Result: front row - Arthur and Bella, second row - Marlena, Celia and Claire.

Hero levels

1. Level all five to exactly 50.
2. After that, to the maximum that your Sanctuary level allows - Marlena first, then Arthur.
3. Keep Claire and the rest 10 levels lower. The main heroes need more and more EXP.
4. Start leveling everyone evenly only at level 130-140.

Limits:

• Bella - no higher than level 70, she will be replaced soon.
• Celia - up to level 100 if you are pure F2P or a small spender. If you plan to invest more - also no higher than 70, she will be replaced too.

Skills

1. All skills of all heroes to exactly level 5, as the stars unlock.
2. Marlena, Arthur and Claire - to level 10.
3. All Marlena's skills to level 15, then Arthur.

By this point the lineup will almost certainly change, so from here on we talk about positions: the second DPS, the second tank and the fifth position (support).

4. When Marlena's and Arthur's skills are at 15, every new core hero first gets all skills to level 10 and only then joins the squad. If Bella and Celia are still in the lineup, they also go to 10.
5. Then Marlena and Arthur to 20, with the same rule: a new hero arrived - first his skills to 10.
6. After 20: all Marlena's skills to 30, starting from the first, then Arthur to 30.
7. Only then max skills for the rest, starting with the second DPS.

Gear: SSR and UR

From the very start, equip gear in this order: Marlena, Arthur, Claire, Bella, Celia. Upgrade purple (SSR) items to level 10 at most, and only for Marlena, Arthur and, if needed, Claire. When you switch to gold (UR), do not dismantle the removed SSR items: they will be useful for the second squad.

Why UR matters: the bonus stats of SSR items are DMG to Monsters, which is PvE and good for the start. But the game very soon goes almost entirely into PvP, and there the bonuses of UR items work: hero ATK and Crit Rate. So upgrade UR to the maximum.

UR gear crafting order

The main rule: damage decides everything. The more damage the back row deals from the first seconds, the surer the win.

Upgrade in the same order as crafting:

1. All UR items one by one to level 20.
2. Then all in the same order to 40. Marlena's Sword is worth raising to the second star as well - the damage gain is noticeable.
3. After that - everything to the maximum level.

More about items in the Gear section. What changes from day 8, when the first wheels and passes with UR heroes arrive, is in the next part.