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Idle Heroes Best Heroes Guide (Tier List): A List of the Best Characters in the Game

Idle Heroes is an awesome mobile RPG developed by DH Games, the company who is also responsible for another addictive game called Ode to Heroes. As the name implies, in Idle Heroes the battles are played by the AI. Your job is to select and nurture the best heroes to progress through the various stages of the Campaign, and to clear all the extra dungeons the game offers. There are over 200 heroes in the game, and it might feel daunting at first to figure out which ones are the best for you. Also, getting specific heroes is really hard, and you will need a lot of copies of lower tier heroes to upgrade everything, so this Idle Heroes guide will focus on what heroes you can get without a huge headache.

Furthermore, different heroes are good at different stages of the game, which makes it even harder to make a coherent tier list, also remember that tier lists are subjective to begin with, as different people will prefer different heroes, plus different heroes synergize better with others, so everyone’s experience will be different. Another factor to consider is that the game gets updated frequently, which tends to shake things up, and change the position of power of the various heroes. So without further ado, we present you our detailed Idle Heroes tier list, showcasing the best heroes and characters in the game!

The Best Heroes For Beginners

It might feel daunting to pick heroes right when you start, there are so many, and 5-star heroes are hard to come by. Luckily, the game is very good at guiding us right from the start. You can get a bunch of 5-star heroes early in the game for free, and these are very good, at least for starters, you should use your early game resources on them. Here is how to get them, and why they are so good.

Norma

norma idle heroes

You get Norma for free simply by linking an email address to your account. This allows you to play on the same Idle Heroes account on any device you wish. Very useful if you are about to buy a new phone, or if you find yourself playing on multiple devices. Norma is overall an excellent Priest, but her strength is in the early-to-mid game.

She is an amazing healer thanks to her ability “Call of Elements”, which heals your weakest hero by a lot. Her two other skills are passive, and they are both great, as they heal Norma herself whenever she is hit and her weakest ally whenever she attacks. What makes Norma so good is that she will easily clear the first 10-15 levels of every Brave Trial by herself without losing any health, which in turn means you will be able to play the later stages with your team in full power. Her self-sustain will also let you clear Aspen Dungeon much more easily with her in the front, thanks to how much she heals herself and allies. Leveling up Norma allows you to progress through the game much faster, which should be your aim. A powerful choice for anyone looking to start the game, plus she is free and you can guarantee to get her, and getting her to 6 stars is also easily doable thanks to the Prophet Tree. Get her to level 100 and 6 stars as soon as possible.

Related: Idle Heroes (iOS) Ultimate Guide: 14 Tips, Cheats & Hints You Should Know

Starlight

starlight idle heroes

Starlight is another great unit if you have just started and are trying to figure out how the game works. You get her as a welcome gift by progressing in the campaign up to level 5-10. She is a very capable mage that can hold her own even in more advanced stages, should you decide to invest in her. Thanks to Impairing Strike, she can wreak havoc through the battlefield just with regular attacks, and Starfall is very powerful against smaller lineups, while Spiritual Attunement is amazing in battles against bigger lineups, as it gives Starlight additional attack and critical hit chance for every hero that dies in battle. Plus, she can be upgraded up to level 250 if you manage to increase her stars.

Heart Watcher

heart watcher idle heroes

Heart Watcher is hands down the best Support hero you can run in the Campaign and in other PVE settings. Despite her abilities all focusing on dealing damage, she has a support label because of her Watcher Mark mechanic. Mind Torture and Weakness Strike mark enemies with a Watcher Mark, which increases all of the damage they take by 20%. This is already insanely good all things considered, but then you take into consideration the fact that Watcher Marks stack, and you will find out why Heart Watcher is so good.

Vesa

vesa idle heroes

Vesa is the last hero in this beginners’ list. The reason she is here is that she is an amazing healer, which helps you in specific game-modes such as the Brave Trial and Aspen Dungeon. The latter part is especially important, as it is the game-mode that leads to the greatest level of account-growth. She’s all about manipulating HPs, and she becomes stronger when she is below 50% of her maximum HPs, thanks to Elegy of Confusion. Vesa is the best healer in the game, not only because she heals her allies a lot, but also because she heals herself a lot, making her very durable and hard to kill. You should absolutely try to get her no matter what, she makes progressing through the game much smoother. Oh, and you get a copy of a 5-star Vesa for free by reaching the Campaign stage 7-20.

As you probably noticed, the underlying theme of the beginner heroes is that they make it easier to clear the Brave Trial and the Aspen Dungeon, and that’s exactly why they are great beginner heroes. You also get a copy of each for free, which is amazing. These 2 game-modes are what will allow you to skyrocket your account growth and ensure progress. There’s another caveat to these choices: they ensure you spend your hard-earned resources well.

The best way of getting additional copies of these heroes to raise their star levels is by expending Prophet Orbs, and coincidentally 3 out of 4 of the heroes in the list are Forest heroes. This gives you a greater chance to getting at least one of them every once in a while, and you will be able to expend the additional ones in hero fusions anyway. Norma is the only exception, and our advice is to expend your first 10-20 orbs trying to get a Norma, by expending Prophet Orbs in the Abyss Gate trying to get her. Afterwards though, every orb should be spent into the Forest Gate, and also the Prophet’s Blessings you get by spending Prophet Orbs should be used to replace Forest heroes. Vesa and Heart Watcher are so good that make all of this hassle absolutely worth.

Hero Categories

It is generally agreed upon that you can divide heroes in 4 categories: reactive heroes, burst heroes, support heroes, and utility heroes. This distinction is dictated by the position you will put them in your formation, and it also based on how the games tend to go.

Specifically, reactive heroes should be put in the first slot, as that’s where most regular attacks will land, which allows them to use their active skill much more often during fights. Usually you want heroes that can take a beating in this slot.

Burst heroes should go in the second or third slot, the reason being that most active abilities hit the slots from 4 to 6, and these abilities often come with Crowd Control effects attached to them. You don’t want your burst heroes to get struck by Crowd Control, that’s why you place them in the 2nd or 3rd slot.

The same goes for support heroes, although if you run more than one you can afford to place one in the 4th to 6th slot. Still, support heroes are a vital component to any team and you want them to be as active as possible, as they improve your chance of winning fights significantly, and are especially useful in game-modes where you don’t heal between battles.

Utility heroes are generally what you place in the 4th, 5th, and 6th slot, and they usually have ways of dealing with Crowd Control, which is why they are placed in the slots that are most susceptible to CC. These heroes aren’t good in PVE modes, they are only useful in PVP modes, so we’re not going to talk a whole lot about them in the following paragraphs.

The Best Reactive Heroes

Skerei

skerei idle heroes

There are many things to say about Skerei, but the most important one is that he is one of the best heroes in the game, if not the best. His active skill, Death Ray, makes Skerei able to annihilate just about anyone he marks with a Lightning Mark, thanks in part to the Mark’s mechanics (Skerei will deal 35% more damage to marked targets), and in part thanks to The Grip of the Death, which not only marks hit targets with a Lightning Mark, but also steals 10% of their attack for 2 rounds. Basically, Skerei is this huge monster that becomes stronger the more he attacks a target, and will quickly destroy anyone he attacks more than twice. He is very good against bosses with very high HP because of his skillset, think the various Guild bosses, or any boss with a lot of health. Plus, he’s cute.

Sigmund

sigmund idle heroes

Sigmund is a great reactive hero, and since you will see Skerei pop up in another section of this guide, he’s the best replacement for Skerei in a reactive position. As with every reactive hero, they are in this position because their active skill is extremely powerful, and powerful is by far the best adjective we can think of when we see Flame Bombardment in action. Flame Bombardment is actually insane, it is by far my favorite active skill in the game, it is mental how much it does. First off, it deals damage to 3 random enemies, then it reduces 30% of their armor and block, and then it burns them dealing extra damage every round for 3 rounds. If all of this wasn’t enough, the burn is more effective against warriors, dealing extra damage to them every round.

This ability would be enough on its own to make any top-tier, but then you see his other spells and realize why Sigmund is here: Burning Pain causes Burn to enemies hit by Sigmund’s regular attacks, and also reduces their armor, plus it makes burned enemies take more damage for 4 rounds. After all of this armor dropping, it is guaranteed that Sigmund will have more armor than the enemy, and that’s where Burning Counterattack comes into play, ensuring Sigmund counterattacks every time he is struck by an enemy with lower armor than him. Honestly, I have had many issues when I had to pick between Sigmund and Skerei for my team…until I decided to put both on my team, and trust me, it was the best decision I’ve ever made in this game.

Iceblink

iceblink idle heroes

Iceblink is another hero whose first 5 star copy you get for free by playing the game. All you have to do is reach player level 60, and the game will reward you with 50 shards of 5-star Iceblink. Very nice. This makes leveling him up to E3 (the highest possible tier) a bit less painful, as you can at least get him relatively early and start pumping resources into him and get some mileage out of him.

Iceblink is great in the 1st slot because of the combination of Ice Blade and Paralyze. When Iceblink is attacked, he reduces the attack of the attacker and increases his own defense, while Ice Blade is his active skill, which has a chance of freezing enemies, while giving Iceblink 30 extra energy. This means Iceblink can cast Ice Blade many more times in a fight than the average hero, which in turn increases his chances of freezing enemies, which is not only good because freeze completely stops the affected enemy from moving for 2 rounds, but also increases the damage Iceblink deals to frozen enemies thanks to Freeze Control.

King Barton

king barton idle heroes

King Barton is the most boring character on the list. Don’t get me wrong, he is insanely good, it’s just that he’s so…boring. He takes hits, he becomes stronger and takes less damage, plus he counterattacks every hit…yeah, that’s it. Heroic Charge is the only interesting ability, it makes King Barton hit 4 enemies with every regular attack, and has 25% chance to stun them for 2 rounds. King Barton is an amazing reactive hero, he is very hard to kill, does a billion damage, and he stun enemies, while hitting multiple of them with every attack. Arguably in the top 3 of the best reactive heroes with Skerei and Xia.

Xia

Xia is another amazing reactive hero. In fact, she is easily in the top 3. What makes her so good in the reactive position is Shadow Step, a passive that gives her +70% block chance among other bonuses, which then coupled with Reverse Damage turns her into a death machine. Other than that, Xia is all about damage, and she is very good at it. She always targets the weakest enemy hero, quickly dispatching them, thanks to the many damage bonuses she gets against weakened opponents. Whirlwind Sweep is the other thing that makes her viable in the reactive position. It does so much damage, it is the single highest damage ability I’ve had the pleasure to try out. Xia is a force to be reckoned with, your best bet is hoping she doesn’t proc her block chance, otherwise you will find yourself not dealing any damage while taking way too much of it.

As you have noticed by now, the pattern is always the same when it comes to picking the best reactive heroes: all of their spells synergize amazingly with each other, and the more hits they take, the more powerful they become. These 4 aren’t the only great reactive heroes though, here is a list of other amazing heroes that you can use in the 1st slot that are comparable to the 5 above:

Corpsedemon, Gerke And Sleepless

corpsedemon idle heroes

Corpsedemon freezes enemies with his active skills like Iceblink, but instead of refilling his energy, he heals himself instead. He also heals himself when his health reaches below 50%, and he has a chance of freezing enemies that hit him. He is definitely a solid choice for a reactive hero.

gerke idle heroes

Gerke is the best Light reactive hero by far. He works best when paired with other Light heroes, as all of his abilities increase the Holy damage of his allies who receive his blessings. Gerke is great when you are finding your backline dying a little too easily, as Divine Light, his active skill, deals respectable damage while also healing Gerke’s allies. All of his abilities focus on increasing the Holy damage he and his teammates deal, so make sure to run him alongside multiple Light heroes.

Sleepless is another hero whose skillset include marks. Specifically, he applies a Round Mark, a mark that triggers after 1 round, dealing massive damage. Sleepless applies Round Marks to every enemy he hits with his active skill: Sleepless Mark, he also applies it to whoever attacks him, and even when he attacks once. As you can see, his damage output is directly proportional to how many hits he takes, and as if all of this wasn’t enough, his Rebirth in Dark allows him to resurrect at full HPs after he dies, ready for another round.

The Best Burst Heroes

As we already said, these heroes go in slot 2 and 3, as that will protect them from Crowd Control, allowing them to deal all the damage they are capable of.

Skerei

Surprised? Yes, Skerei is a great reactive hero thanks to his active ability, but realistically, he’s also insanely good as a bust hero, thanks to the fact that the more he attacks a target the more powerful he becomes. His ability to kill just about anyone in few hits is what makes him a threatening burst hero. Lightning Marks are great, even if you are not going to apply as many when not in the 1st slot. It is perfectly reasonable to run multiple Skerei, and in fact, I encourage you to try to do so, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Aspen

aspen idle heroes

Aspen looks super badass, and he’s very strong too. His active ability, Dread’s Coming has a component that makes it deal 20% of the maximum health of every enemy it hits (it has a cap to avoid making Aspen too strong against high health monsters like the Guild Raid bosses), plus it can Horrify them for 2 seconds, making them unable to use basic attacks. Every time he uses this ability, he gets a shield that stacks up to 5 time, each shield granting him 20% resistance to control and 6% damage reduction. He also increases his own attack every time he strikes an enemy, and when his attacks cause an enemy’s HPs to drop below 35%, they will deal additional damage and heal Aspen.

While his active skill and the shields he gets might make him look like a reactive hero, he is much better at burst. The damage reduction is nice but it’s not really enough, and he is better off dealing damage uninterrupted, rather than taking a beating.

Faith Blade

faith blade idle heroes

Faith Blade looks a bit ridiculous, and his damage output is stupid too. In a positive sense of course. He always targets the enemy with the lowest health, and deals extra damage to them, which ensures you actually kill weakened enemies. I’ve had battles where an enemy has survived with little HPs and then my heroes refused to damage them, allowing them to wreck me. Not cool. This trait combines well with Blood Nourishing, as it allows you to fully restore your energy after every enemy death, something you can guarantee with Ready for Reaping. His active ability stuns enemies hit that have more health than him.

Faith Blade, as with every other Light hero, is best used alongside other Light heroes, as they all tend to increase the overall Holy Damage dealt with their abilities.

Jahra

jahra idle heroes

Jahra looks super cool, and her active ability is really interesting. Evil Infestation hits 4 random enemies and Poisons them, making them take extra damage for 2 rounds. Furthermore, it has a 20% chance to either Freeze them or Petrify them for 2 rounds. This makes Jahra very dangerous, as with some good RNG rolls she will disable entire teams. She also steals the attack of the enemies she strikes, and she has a chance to heal herself whenever she is hit by an active ability.

Overall, a solid choice if you are looking for a burst hero and are lacking in the Crowd Control department.

The Best Support Heroes

Heart Watcher

Another hero returning form an earlier section of the guide, Heart Watcher is the best support to run in the PVE modes bar none. There’s not much to add from the earlier paragraph, so just scroll up if you need a refresh.

Belrain

belrain idle heroes

Belrain is the best defensive support in the game (while Heart Watcher is better offensively), on par with Vesa, thanks to the crazy amount of support she provides to any team. Her active skill damages enemies and boosts healing, attack, and speed of her allies for 3 rounds, which in turn makes her other skills better, as well as empowering the self-healing of your other heroes. Her basic attacks also heal 3 random allies by a decent amount, and her last trait, Light of Souls, is what separates her from the rest of the cast.

When Belrain dies, she will restore the HP of all of her allies by a very large number for 5 consecutive rounds. Belrain dying ensures the rest of your team can keep fighting and not lose her healing ability, in fact, this is the best healing skill in the game!

Belrain is an amazing support for every team that is looking for a dedicated healer.

Emily

I don’t know why Emily’s power level is so low in game, this hero is an amazing support. Nether Nightmare lowers the enemies’ precision, and it’s deadly when combined with high block chances, like Xia’s, as it will make the enemies basically unable to land an attack, plus she boosts her allies’ Attack and Speed. Another thing that makes Emily great is that she lowers the Crit chance of the enemies she hits. And lastly, when her health is below 50%, she increases the attack of her allies, while lowering the armor of her enemies.

A very solid choice for an offensive support, although the lack of healing makes her a bit less desirable than heroes like Vesa and Belrain.

Vesa

Another hero that comes back from an earlier section of the guide, Vesa is on par with Belrain when it comes to healing. Read up on her in the “Good heroes for beginners” section if you are curious about what she does. If you don’t feel like doing it, just know that she heals. A lot. More than anyone else except maybe Belrain. She also heals herself a lot and she is very hard to take down, thanks to her Elegy of Confusion.

Vesa is a wonderful support, and you get a 5-star copy of her for free by reaching stage 7-20 of the Campaign. She is a great choice for any team looking for a powerful healer.

The Best Utility Heroes

These heroes are a mix of Support and Burst usually, some of them are also immune to Crowd Control, which makes them great choices for the last 3 slots on the team, as those are usually the ones most targeted by CC. These heroes are not very useful in the campaign though, as CC is not consistently found there, and they do not have well defined strengths and weaknesses, so we are not going to talk in depth about them. Here’s a list of the best ones you could run during the campaign, in case you get them. They are amazing in PVP thanks to their CC immunity though, so keep them for later in the game when PVP becomes your main activity.

Valkyrie, Mihm, Demon Hunter

valkyrie idle heroes

I put 2 forest heroes here because realistically you are going to summon a lot of heroes from the Forest Gate in the Prophet Tree, so you are more likely to find them than anyone else. These heroes are all decent damage dealers, and have some nice self-buffs, for example Demon Hunter can become control immune for 2 rounds, reduce the damage she takes, and silence enemies, whereas Mihm can reduce the energy of the enemies he hits, reduce their armor, and even damage every enemy after one of their allies dies. He is also passively immune to Crowd Control. Valkyrie is a nice damage dealer that does a lot of damage based on her own max HPs, which makes them pretty strong with the right gear.

This wraps up our hero guide for Idle Heroes. As with every guide regarding heroes, it is highly subjective, and different synergies can really breathe new life into a hero that seems almost unusable by themselves. Experimenting is vital when it comes to this type of games, especially earlier when you don’t need to sacrifice as many copies of various heroes to star your units up. Let us know in the comments if you have found any hero you think is particularly overpowered and could fit this guide, or anything else really! Happy farming.

Scott

Sunday 28th of June 2020

Can we get a recent update please?

Randal

Tuesday 17th of December 2019

Penny is insane in her damage