Hero Wars best heroes for beginners: who to invest in first

The roles, team slots and damage types are covered in our beginner team compositions guide, and the first week plan is in the beginner guide. This page answers a narrower question: which named heroes deserve your first soul stones, gold and skin stones, and which ones look tempting but slow a free account down. Every pick below is either confirmed by the official help center or shared by at least two current guide sites, and we name the sources so you can see where they agree and where they do not.

How hero investment works when you do not pay

Every hero grows along the same tracks: level, rank (equipment), stars (evolution), skills, skins, glyphs and artifacts. The help centers for both versions describe evolution the same way: you evolve a hero up to six stars with gold and Soul Stones, and each star raises the hero's main stats. Level is the cheap part. Stars and skins are the expensive part, and they are where free players win or lose months.

That makes the source of soul stones the first thing to check before you commit. A hero whose stones you can buy or farm every day climbs steadily. A hero you pulled once from a chest sits at one or two stars for a long time. Nexters' own beginner article puts it plainly: there are more than 60 characters in the game, so focus on the ones you actually take into battle and do not sell soul stones, because you may want to rebuild later.

• Campaign heroic missions can drop a soul stone of the hero shown on the mission. You get three attempts a day per mission and can buy more with emeralds, with the limit set by your VIP level (same rule in both versions).
• Shops sell soul stones of fixed heroes for the currency of each mode. These are the backbone of a free account and are listed in the table further down.
• Chests and events are the main source for everyone else: the Heroic Chest in Alliance, the Soul Atrium in Dominion Era, plus event shops and quests.

Left: the Alliance main screen with the Campaign gate, the Hero Arena and the Heroic Chest, the three places your first heroes come from. Right: Galahad's hero screen at Equipment Rank 7. Galahad is the hero every account starts with, and his screen shows the rank, gear and skin slots every hero shares.

Your first heroes: starter, tank and healer

Pocket Gamer's tier list (updated 2 November 2026) calls Galahad "your starter champion" who can be strong late, but only with the right support around him. Mobi.gg (August 2026) puts him in its lowest tier, and Hero Wars Olympus told Dominion Era players in June 2026 that the game hands out Artemis early "and practically tells you to build her" while she belongs on the avoid list. The common thread: the heroes the tutorial pushes on you are not automatically the heroes to max. Use them to clear early chapters, then move your stars elsewhere.

Astaroth: the safe early tank

Astaroth is the closest thing to a unanimous beginner pick. Hero Wars Olympus (November 2025) lists him first among free to play heroes because new accounts get him early and he protects the team with shields and resurrection. Pocket Gamer (November 2026) calls him a decent tank worth investing in and a natural tank for K'arkh and Faceless. Mobi.gg ranks him among heroes it recommends for beginners. The official Dominion Era hero rating article even leaves him out of its top ten on purpose, together with Aurora and Martha, because they are "universally popular" and work in nearly any team.

Martha and Aurora

Martha is the healer most sources come back to. Pocket Gamer describes her as having "probably the best healing in the game" and pairs her with Jorgen; Mobi.gg ranks her A; the Dominion Era help center names her as universally popular. Aurora is a tank with dodge and magic reflect that Pocket Gamer rates highly and the Dominion help center also names. If you pull either of them early, they are safe places for stars.

Shop heroes worth your coins

Shops are the free player's real summon button. The heroes on sale differ between versions, so check your own column. The lists below come from the official Alliance and Dominion Era help centers (checked 10 November 2026). The Arena Shop opens at team level 10 and the Grand Arena Shop at team level 50 in both versions.

Why these picks:

• Folio. Hero Wars Olympus named him one of its top three free to play heroes (November 2025) and put him in its free to play core team; Mobi.gg calls Folio, Satori and Cornelius "the best F2P heroes" because they are easy to get from shops; Pocket Gamer rates him S.
• Julius. Mobi.gg calls him the best tank in the game, Olympus picked him as one of four early build heroes on 9 November 2026 and points to the Guild War merchant for his stones, Pocket Gamer rates him A.
• Nebula. Pocket Gamer S, Mobi.gg A, and she is in the official Dominion Era top ten by player rating.
• Jorgen. Pocket Gamer S (shielding plus energy steal), Mobi.gg A. Both versions sell him in the Outland Shop.
• Dante. Mobi.gg A, in the official Dominion top ten, and one of Olympus' Eternity starter cores. Both versions sell him in the Tower Shop.
• Cornelius and Faceless. Dominion Era sells both in the Friendship Shop. Mobi.gg lists Cornelius among the best free heroes, Pocket Gamer rates him A and pairs Faceless with K'arkh in its top tier.

Heroes to skip early

Nothing is useless forever, but these heroes ask for a lot of investment for little early return. We only list a hero here when at least two current sources agree.

• Dark Star. C tier at both Mobi.gg and Pocket Gamer; Olympus (Dominion Era, June 2026) says top players do not use her. She is sold in the Arena Shop of both versions, so the coins go further on someone else.
• Kai. C tier at both Mobi.gg and Pocket Gamer ("not really worth investing"); on the Olympus avoid list. Tower Shop in both versions.
• Ishmael. C tier at both Mobi.gg and Pocket Gamer. Grand Arena Shop in both versions.
• Elmir. C tier, the lowest, at Mobi.gg; Olympus calls him one of the worst heroes right now in Dominion Era and a beginner trap in Alliance.
• Ginger and Fox. Both on the Olympus Dominion avoid list; Pocket Gamer says Ginger is fine early but not an end game unit and does not recommend investing, and Mobi.gg puts Fox in its lowest tier.
• Jet. Both help centers say the Soul Shop is the only place to get him, and that shop runs on coins from surplus stones of six star heroes. Olympus calls him a healer trap, and Pocket Gamer and Mobi.gg both place him mid table. Not a beginner hero.

Where the guides disagree

Tier lists for Hero Wars are opinion, and they split on a few popular heroes. Treat these as "build if you already have them, do not chase them first":

• Iris. Mobi.gg ranks her the best damage dealer in the game and Olympus picked her as an early build hero in November 2026 (Alliance, Grand Arena Shop). Pocket Gamer calls her "average" and "highly situational" in the same month.
• Lian. Mobi.gg A+, Pocket Gamer B, and Olympus says pets that counter her sleep made her a poor beginner pick in Dominion Era.
• Judge and Satori. Olympus uses Judge in its Alliance shield core with Julius and Isaac, but its Dominion avoid list says both only shine in compositions beginners do not have yet. Mobi.gg lists Satori among the best free heroes.
• Markus. Pocket Gamer rates him a great healer; Olympus calls him a beginner trap in both versions and Mobi.gg puts him in its lowest tier.

For the full rankings and the reasons behind them, see our Hero Wars tier list, and for lineups that use the heroes above, the best teams guide.

How many heroes to build, and in what order

1. One tank first. Astaroth if you have him; Julius in Alliance once you reach the Guild War Shop. The tank is where early stars do the most.
2. One main damage dealer that you can farm. Folio from the Alliance Arena Shop is the most widely recommended. Put your first skins into this hero's main stat.
3. A healer. Martha if you have her; otherwise whichever healer your campaign or event rewards give you steadily.
4. Two supports or controllers. Nebula, Jorgen, Cornelius or Faceless depending on version and shop access.
5. Stop at five. Level and rank the five evenly so they hit the Tower and campaign together. Olympus' free to play guide suggests putting most resources into the tank and main damage dealer and the rest into support.
6. Start the second team only when Grand Arena opens. It needs three teams, and by then your shop currencies show you which heroes you can actually grow.

Leveling is cheap, but hero level is capped by your team level once you are past the opening levels, so push the campaign and daily quests to raise the cap. Skins, glyphs and artifacts for these five are covered in our skins, glyphs and artifacts guide.

What changes between Alliance and Dominion Era

The heroes are mostly the same, the access is not.

• Leonel (Alliance only). The Realm opened to every Alliance player above level 40 in February 2026. Nexters' Realm guide says Leonel's fragments come from developing your base, raids and monsters of level 15 and up, and his talisman from a quest for Hall of Heroes level 25. Olympus picked him as an early free to play build for that reason.
• Hero summons. Alliance uses the Heroic Chest; Dominion Era uses the Soul Atrium. Event shops differ between the two even in the same week.
• Shops. Alliance shops carry more heroes (Folio, Iris, Julius and Nebula all have a fixed Alliance shop). Dominion Era has the Friendship Shop with Faceless and Cornelius, and sells Iris, Aidan, Kayla and Amira in the Clash of Worlds Shop.
• Level caps. The help centers give a maximum team level of 120 for Alliance and 130 for Dominion Era, with hero skill caps to match.
• New heroes in Dominion Era. Since 2 November 2026 Dominion runs 28 day event cycles. The new Hero Season lets you raise the season's new hero's evolution and rank through the season pass, with experience from events, while the pre-order stays as the faster route. That makes the new hero partly reachable for free players if you play the scheduled events.

In Alliance, Realm Technologies raise the stats of every hero at once (left: the official card listing the boosts; right: the New Researches art). That is a free upgrade that does not care which heroes you picked, so it never conflicts with the advice above.

Whatever you build, keep the account fed: free emeralds and where to spend them are on our emerald guide, codes on the promo codes page, and the full roster in the hero list. Back to the Hero Wars hub.

Building an Effective Team: Beginner's Guide (Hero Wars: Alliance)

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