Returners is the latest mobile title from Nexon, a Korean developer, and publisher known for its multiplayer games. The company’s latest offering is a single player-centric mobile game with strong social integration. Returners also feature multiplayer battles, in which players battle for a better spot, and advancement through ranked leagues.
The game is a hero RPG in which a team consisted of five heroes battle their way through many levels in order to level up and loot better gear. Although Returners is a game based around the free-to-play model with two different currencies – standard gold and premium crystals – there’s plenty of rewards that give players enough resources to recruit new heroes, get competitive gear, and battle monsters and other players.
The hero system is an interesting one. You can’t buy random boxes, or similar items that give you random heroes. Instead, different playing characters are locked behind certain requirements (like earning enough stars on levels) or are given away as prizes for completing quests and advancing trough multiplayer battle leagues.
The game is filled with different heroes and in order to be successful and to gather plenty of stars players must try out different strategies and be careful with where they are spending their resources on. Invest your assets in a wrong hero, who isn’t a top of the stable and you will find yourself with an inadequate team and without money.
While getting better loot is a key part of the game, heroes are also essential since their stats and abilities (especially ultimates) can really give a team and edge in battle. Of course, if you play carefully, watch other players’ feedback and not making rushed decisions you can build a powerful hero team capable of conquering most of the single player levels as well as being excellent in multiplayer battle.
Sure, this can be hard and time-consuming, but if you don’t want to spend real money on the game, you have to be careful with your decisions. And since most heroes are locked behind star requirements making them hard-earned even for players who spend lots of bucks on buying different items, Returners is a game where wit and right strategy triumph over trucks of money spend on getting crystals and better gear.
Now, in order to build a superb hero team, you don’t have to get every hero, you don’t have to get the best equipment, all you have to do is follow this guide and success will become imminent. Stay with us and find out how to assemble a perfect hero team in Returners.
1. Auto-Equip Is A Faster Option, But It’s Better To Equip Gear Manually
There is plenty of different gear in Returners, and each piece is suited for one of the five classes – support, ranger, tank, fighter, and mage – but that doesn’t mean you can’t give a mage cloak to the ranger, or a tank boots to a fighter.
And this is the problem with an auto-equip option. It assigns gear pieces to heroes of the same class, and even if you have powerful hear that isn’t for a certain hero class, it won’t be equipped if there’s the same class equipment in your inventory, even if the same class gear piece is less powerful. So, instead of using auto-equip option, make sure to use the manual option in order for your heroes to always have the most powerful gear available.
2. While In Battle, Use Hero Icons Instead Of Clicking On Heroes
Returners features fast-paced fighting filled with numerous graphical effect and finding a hero to use a tactic card on can be infuriating, especially once all of them start throwing ultimates. When you want to target a specific hero, or enemy, use their icons that are shown on each side of the screen. It is much easier than hunting characters that always move and are hard to spot in huge fireworks of graphical effects each battle turns into after a few seconds.
3. Tactic Cards Are Essential In Each And Every Battle, So Use Them Often
Tactic cards are one of the two ways of actively being involved in battles, the other one being targeting specific enemies. There are plenty of different cards available, and you will unlock more and more as you advance through Returners’ single-player campaign, finish quests and advance through multiplayer leagues.
Picking the right cards for your play style is important, and since you can pick just two cards that can’t be of the same color, it is crucial to pick those that are best suited for your play style. If you see that your heroes are easily damaged, pick a card that heals your units. If, on the other hand, your team has lots of physical damage units, pick a card that augments your team’s physical damage. You get the picture, always make sure that tactic cards complement your play style and make your heroes more powerful.
4. Focus On Ranged Enemies
Ranged enemies usually have (especially rangers and mages) devastating attacks that can quickly wreak havoc on your team, so make sure to target the most powerful ranged enemy on the screen that pops out before a battle.
Then, after you deal with ranged foes, see if there’s a support hero and deal with them next. Tanks are usually filled with health but slow to attack, and without exemplary high attack numbers, so they are best to deal with last.
Fighters can be tricky, since some have incredibly powerful attacks, so if you notice that an opponent is severely damaging your heroes, you should deal with them after killing ranged units.
Also, try hitting one enemy at a time, if possible. Try finding out which foes are the most powerful and then eliminate them one by one. Focusing at one enemy at a time is better than just bashing them all at once because you will gradually lower threat and number of foes attacking your heroes instead of having all of them hitting your team right until the end of a battle.
5. Be Maximally Aggressive And Don’t Worry If One Of Your Heroes Gets Killed During A Battle
One great thing about Returners is that getting a three-star rating is possible even if you finish a battle victorious but without one, or more heroes. If one of them gets killed, don’t fret, and don’t restart the battle as soon as you see one of your heroes dying.
The game grants three stars, but only if you quickly finish a battle. If we remember correctly, a player must kill all foes in less than 40 seconds to be gifted with three stars, so if you manage to do that even with losses, you will get a maximum rating.
6. Find A Perfect Formation
Formations are, like tactic cards, very important in Returners. If you have a solid team but use the wrong formation, you will be decimated on the playing field. Make sure to pick a tactic best suited for your team.
Melee heroes are to be placed on the front, with a ranger, mages, and support heroes placed on the back row. This way your melee heroes (fighters and tanks) will soak up damage while ranged ones (which usually have lower health and defense rating) will be able to barrage enemies from afar, securely stacked on the back row.
Now, tanks are always meant to be on the front row, but that doesn’t mean they should be left alone there. If you use fighters, place them next to tanks, on the front. They don’t have as high defense, and aren’t as stacked with health like tanks are, but they are faster and usually have potent dodge stats.
7. Be Smart With Resources
As with most similar games, resources in Returners are limited, except you decide to shell out lots of cash. Don’t spend them on wrong heroes, or items. Enhance powerful items that won’t be replaced with something better as soon as the next battle ends. Upgrade items for which you know are worthy and won’t be replaced soon. The general idea is to enhance three-star gear and higher, while lower gear should only be enhanced if you really think is good. Don’t evolve each and every hero, and don’t spend XP books all the time.
XP books should be saved for times after a hero finishes evolving since their levels reset when evolving, making them less powerful than they were with fewer stars. After you evolve a hero level them up to at least level ten for them to be competitive and usable right from the start.
8. Each Hero Has Its Board Where Other Players Can Grade Them
Since Returners feature a ton of different heroes, deciding which one to use and which one to unlock next can be a frustrating experience. Luckily, one option makes thing much easier. When you click on a hero, you will see an option called board.
This is like a messaging board where other players can comment on specific heroes as well as grade them. When deciding which heroes to pick for your team, consult their boars since other players’ feedback is usually pretty true to how heroes are powerful during battles.
Of course, do not unlock all heroes (expect one-star ones since they are free to unlock after you complete unlock requirements) since they are pretty expensive. Instead, think about your play style and which hero type you need, and then consult hero boards and see which one suits you most.
As with other RPG games based on teams of heroes, there are better and worse options, and we will list the best hero choices near the end of this guide.
9. Replay Specific Levels To Earn Upgrade Crystals
Returners has a massive single player campaign with tons of levels, and each level gives different prizes. You can see which items you get after beating a level on the pre-battle screen. This is great because some levels have upgrade crystals as prizes, and upgrade crystals are pretty rare to find. Even worse, each different piece of equipment requires different upgrade crystals in order to be upgraded.
So, when you need a crystal to upgrade a weapon or a helmet, look which color the crystal is, and then check out every single player level before you find the one that gives you an upgrade crystal you need. And then grind a level for a bit, and you will be stacked with upgrade crystals.
10. When Attacking Raid Bosses, Do Not Use Support Heroes
Raid bosses are very powerful and since your team will be killed pretty fast, it is better to send a team made out of the best damage dealers, and support heroes aren’t the ones that have huge damage output.
Since raid prizes are given based on the percentage of damage your team dealt with a boss, it is important to deal as much damage as possible during every boss encounter. So, do not send support heroes on raid boss battles, send hero team with the highest possible damage-per-second output.
Also, since the first few bosses (one and two stars) are quick to beat, you might miss prizes given for defeating them. So, if you jump into raid and notice that boss has two stars or more, swipe to the right in order to redeem prizes given for defeating lower level bosses.
11. A Word Or Two About The Arena Mode
The arena is another multiplayer battle mode in Returners, and instead of just one team, arena battles are played on two wins, meaning you have to make three teams instead of one. The good thing about it, is the fact teams don’t have five members but three.
So, when making your ultimate arena teams, make sure to have at least six powerful heroes. And do not place three most powerful one on the first team, be more strategic. The best way is to place two huge damage dealers on the first team along with one support healer, or one tank.
This way you will probably defeat opponents since the two DPS heroes will deal tons of damage while your tank will soak up the damage. Another strategy is to place a healer on the first team so your two DPS heroes can heal and live longer, but do that only if you have two very strong DPS heroes.
Your second team should also be powerful since you have to win two battles for a victory. It is better for your second team to be made out of tanks and DPS heroes since most opponents won’t expect that and will make their second team a bit underpowered.
Another cool strategy (and one that should be used if you don’t have nine powerful heroes), is to place your weakest heroes on the first team, so you lose the first match. This can be excellent because most people try constructing two strong teams and place their weakest heroes in the third team because everyone wants to win the first match. But, if your first team is weak, it will battle against other player’s most powerful team meaning that your third team (which is pretty strong if using this strategy) will face enemies that are way weaker than them. This way you will outsmart your opponents and even will stand a chance against players that have more total power than you.
12. A Short Guide On The Best Heroes Every New Player Should Unlock
You start Returners with a team of three heroes and after just a few battles you are given three new heroes (they are usually support) in order to fill out your hero team. But, as you probably guessed, the starting heroes aren’t the best ones to use.
Yes, there are some good heroes that are with you from the start, but best ones are to be unlocked further in the game. Some will be given as prizes, and some will be earned through completing quests.
But, since there’s a staggering number of heroes picking the best ones isn’t easy. We said that checking out each hero’s notice board can give you a general idea of how good a single hero is, but we wanted to give you something even better. So we made a short list of best heroes to pick during early game. Check it out below.
King Arthur
He is probably the best tank in Returners. He has huge defense, and also has powerful abilities that stun and taunt enemies. Also, if you want to pick some other tank, make sure they have stun and taunt abilities.
Yuki Onna
Yuki Onna is a powerful mage that has higher attack than most other mages. She has an excellent ultimate ability and, more importantly, has stun abilities that are very important for a mage to have. You should definitely pick her up if planning to make the team with just one mage in it.
Hartmann
One of the best rangers, Hartmann can be unlocked pretty fast. You should definitely get him because he has strong attack, lots of HP, and a completely overpowered ultimate ability. When you get him make sure to upgrade his ultimate at least a couple of times.
Hong Gil-dong
He is the first boos encountered in Returners and will become a part of your team right at the start of the game. He is excellent fighter with stun abilities, which can be devastating, especially when you combine three or more heroes with stun. Pick him up and combine with other stun heroes.
Panacea
She is the best healer in the game so if you are planning on making a team with a healer support, make sure to pick her up.
Musashi
He is the best fighter hero in the game, but unlocking him requires lots of stars. Be sure to get him once he becomes available. Also, stack up on XP books so you can evolve him to at least three stars once you buy him.
Okay, folks, that was all. We hope each one of our readers found something interesting in this guide and we hope that all of you will become true masters of Returners. Thanks for reading and happy gaming!
Arc
Tuesday 19th of December 2017
Is there any other way to improve hero conditions without using potions?