An unskippable ~5 min introduction will teach you the basic mechanics of the game.
➔ You’ll then be taken to the Tavern where you can summon 10x heroes.
Start on the Newest Sever (Optional)
New servers are usually created every 3-4 days at 12AM UTC time.
Daily tasks and missions also reset at this time.
Starter Heroes
Notes
In early game, the best hero to start investing resources into is Th’londrir.
All heroes can be ascended to Elite+.
BUT only ascend 1x hero beyond Legendary at a time per faction until they are at least Epic.
I advise against rushing heroes to Mythical, it can be more important to save fodder so that we ascend the right heroes first.
Heroes
The first carry should be Katerina until you get one of the below.
The best carry heroes are Keelia and Mawi.
Kulgaz is also a decent option.
Level only 1x hero from the above, whoever is ascended the highest at the time.
They should be Lv. 80 when your other 4 heroes are still Lv. 1... (and then up to 40 levels ahead from Lv. 81 onward)
Reset as often as needed at the Dock to switch levels around your heroes, it's free to do so.
Katerina can be taken to Legendary+ as she's an uncommon hero that can be used as food later.
When the opportunity arises, ascend either Keelia, Kulgaz or Mawi to Legendary.
Do not ascend further until absolutely necessary (when you have reached the level cap).
We need to see what copies the game gives us before deciding who the 1st hero we take to Mythical in the Ardent faction will be.
You'll need a total of 8x copies to take a hero to Mythical.
We can also begin ascending Genevieve for Illuminated and Blodeuweth for Eternal.
We get our first copy of Th’londrir for free when he drops in the tavern pool around Day 22.
Th’londrir will be the 1st hero we take to Mythical in the Vitalus faction.
Recommend Investment
Th'londrir
: Signature 30
Windchasers
and First Talent (303)
Make sure you set aside 220 Gray and 240 Yellow Rune Stones for him before leveling the below
Genevieve
: Signature 10
Soulstrike Crossbow
Supporting Heroes
In Season 2, the following heroes are important
You'll want to try your best to get at least 1 copy of Vivienne(If you've saved a lot of conjuring scrolls you can try get her at the Day 32: Dune Dynasty event, but it'll be safer to save for the Day 55: Fantastic Five event where you'll have more scrolls and increased chances)
Yelina will be the 2nd hero that would be good to prioritise in Illuminated faction.
1 copy of Esia and Arnoth will also be useful but not mandatory unless super competitive.
Who should I seer for?
F2P:
Melial
or
Vivienne
until they are Mythical
P2W: Gaian or Mythia
Good Heroes to have in Wellspring
Ardent: Grukzag, Kulgaz
Eternal: Arawn, Maeve, Malakith
Illuminated: Alexandria, Anne, Brenia, Constanza
Vitalus: Cruban, Elyarill
Annointed/Deific: Leuka, Theadril
Soulstone Wishlist
Hero soulstones can be obtained through smelting Alchemical Solvents. These can be used to unlock Hero talents.
3 soulstones = Talent 1
9 soulstones = Talent 2
This is also commonly referred to as +3 and +9
Important heroes that will need their Second Talent +9
9 soulstones can take a while to accumulate, so it's best to only have 2-3 of them on your wishlist at a time.
Melial, Yelina, Yunalesca: They also need their sg30
Mythia: Starts working at lower investment, but will ultimately need to be maxed.
Vivienne: Works at low investments, but becomes incrementally stronger with more investment.
Important heroes that will need their First Talent +3 but also good to keep building to +9.
This is optional... I personally opted to get more heroes their +3.
Gaian, Th’londrir: Will also need their sg30
Other heroes that want their First Talent
They can be removed from the wishlist once they get it.
Excessium, Genevieve, Keelia, Phalanx, Wadjetta
Raa Kanu?
Once you've completed the First Talents above, you can try get these heroes their +3
Add them in order of who is closest to Epic.
Blodeuweth, Kulgaz, Iyathill
There are other heroes worth getting or need their talents, but their build priority are lower until you get well into end game
Aravis, Elyarill, Globnik, Heinrich, Nefertari
Other P2W heroes who need +9
Aeyastra, Eudos
Who do I prioritise?
Whether you're F2P or P2W, the best heroes to focus on for PVE early/mid game will be similar.
Priority 1
+3: Th’londrir
+3: Excessium, Phalanx, Wadjetta
+9: Melial, Mythia, Yelina
Priority 2
+3: Gaian
+3: Genevieve, Keelia, Iyathill
+9: Yunalesca
Expedition Plaza
You must obtain all the Books/Talismans for specific Lorebooks to unlock different boosts.
Book of Truths (3x Books)
Increases Patrol Rewards by 10%
Parchment Talisman (8x Talisman)
Reduces stamina required to capture tiles by 20%
Market & What to Buy
Cosmic Harmony
Found in: Chapel / Cosmic Harmony
Overview
Cosmic Harmony is made up of 2 equally important things that boost all your heroes attributes and skills:
Constellations which boost attributes (Uses Chaos Dust)
Skills which gives hero classes special skills (Uses Chaos Stones)
Notes
For all constellations, always level the ATK and ATK% nodes first until they are capped out.
Constellation limits can only be increased by ascending more heroes.
Your main source of Chaos Dust/Stones will be from Dragon's Abyss and Chaos Rift.
Constellations and skills can be reset at any time for 100 diamonds, so it's not a big deal if you have it set up wrong.
Guide
Th’londrir is a Ranger, so we want to ensure that we focus more on the Ranger tree
Upgrade the 1st Skill: Assassin's Touch to Lv. 1 (Unlocks after you've invested 20 points)
Upgrade the 2nd Skill: Carpe Diem to Lv. 1 (Unlocks at 40 points)
Upgrade the 1st Skill: Assassin's Touch to Lv. 2 (Unlocks at 80 points)
You'll find that you will hit the constellation point limit quite frequently, so it's advisable to spend any excess resources on the Mage tree
Upgrade the 2nd Skill: Supreme Sorcery to Lv. 1 *(Unlocks at 40 points)*
End Goal
Once you reach Chapter 31-4 and Tower 400+, your Th’londrir has done his job.
He is still extremely important for progression, but continuing to focus heavily into the Ranger tree needs to be considered case by case.
It is now recommended to start investing more of your points into the Mage tree as your 2nd/3rd/4th DPS will all be mages.
This switch becomes important for Faction Tower.
It will be covered in a different guide, but focus mainly on upgrading the 2nd Skill: Supreme Sorcery
Skills
Cosmic Harmony skills
Holy Crowns
Holy Crown infographic
Recommended Crowns
The Spirit of Blasphey
Once you reach a certain power deficit (the difference in power between your team and the enemies), the optimal choice would be to equip this 4-piece set.
This stops your heroes from being killed instantly.
It hopefully helps your heroes survive long enough to fire off their ultimate and contribute to the battle.
Crowns to increase damage
The Mind of Wisdom (MOW)
Great to increase your DPS heroes damage if they have ample support to help keep them alive (and there are heroes providing CC on your team).
Works really well on Th'londrir and Vivienne
The Hand of Fortune (HOF)
Great to increase your DPS heroes damage in Boss content as they are typically being fed a constant source of energy.
Blodeuweth, Iyathill, Leolas, Melial, Yelina...
The Purging Flame (PF)
If the DPS Hero also has a naturally high crit rate, this is also a comparable option to increase their damage in Boss content.
Blodeuweth, Melial, Yelina...
Situational Crowns
Crown of Immortality (COI)
Good on heroes who help regenerate energy.
Alexandria, Aylwyn, Esia, Arnoth...
Practical experiments and conclusions (by @Freya)
Hero with big burst dmg and high energy do better with HOF
If it doesn't have energy support/regeneration, PF is better all the time
PF do better EVERYTIME (even on full energy rate) for heroes that hit fast, rely on normal atk/normal skill, have very frequent damage tick, have fairly high critical rate, and doesn't have fast energy regen (eg. Gar'zak, Arnoth...)
Forging Alliances
Counsellors and Agents
Counsellor unlocks at Respected
Provides a 1.5 - 7% faction boost depending on the ascension level of the designated Counsellor.
Agents unlocks at Worshipped
Provides a 5% boost for 6 heroes (faction and/or anointed + elemental heroes)
Upgrade Path
Starting Out
[ 2 x 2,000 rep, 4 days ] Take both Council of Merchants and Badonites to Acknowledged
[ 2 x 2,000 rep, 4 days ] Take both Rangers of the White Oak and Warlord of the North to Acknowledged
These upgrades unlock Piles of Crystals which can optionally be purchased daily for faster leveling. Reputation Stores has one of the best diamond/crystal ratio in the game
[ 2 x 6,000 rep, 12 days ] Continue to level both Badonites and Warlord of the North until they reach Sociable(Try to exclusively level Warlord of the North first)
These upgrades unlock 100x Alchemical Solvents which SHOULD be purchased daily to increase the frequency in which you can pull for soulstones.
Chapter 12 - 14
The Bottom 4 Forces will begin to unlock as you move through these chapters.
[ 3 x 500 rep, 1.5 days ] Take Society of Mages, The Order of Lady Yunalesca and Warlord of the South to Acknowledged
These upgrades unlock 1% HP / ATK / DEF boost to all your heroes within Ardent, Illuminated and Vitalus factions. Equivalent to holding Champion Ranking in Arena for a couple days work (actually better because you also get an additional DEF bonus)
[ 3 x 1,500 rep, 3.5 days ] Continue taking the above to Sociable
Unlocks 1.5% boost
Table showing the statuses, upgrade costs and attribute boosts/bonuses
Misc Notes
Elemental Shop
Every month you get 20x free Primordial Crystals.
Elemental Pass
By purchasing this pack, you get a minimum of 81x Primordial Crystals + 4.3K Diamonds
Recommended Purchase
➔ 20x Rare Resource Chests for 7x Crystals
F2P: ~60x Rare Resource Chests p/mo
P2W: ~280x Rare Resource Chests p/mo
Rare Resource Chest Income (F2P)
aka Signature Chest / Red Chest
Elemental Shop: 60 (The first month you'll only be able to get 40 chests, then 60 chests p/mo for the next 7 months before repeating again.)
Expedition Plaza: Up to 85 (Varies depending on the route you take, this event repeats once per season... every 32 days.)
Total Monthly Income: ~145x Rare Resource Chests
When and how far to Ascend Heroes
A lot of heroes work at Elite/Elite+ until Chapter 34
In early/mid game, focus on one hero per faction at a time.
Ascending multiple heroes to Legendary can be detrimental and can set you back months as fodder can be scarce.
Epic is a good milestone
This ascension unlocks a heroes Signature Skill and First Talent.
A lot of heroes only need their 203 (Signature +20 and First Talent).
Ascending from Epic ➔ Mythic
Do this in one go when you have the 2x Elite+ copies ready to do so (in most cases there is little point parking at Epic+ for an extended period of time).
Make this ascension when you want to take a hero beyond their First Talent.
Or when you need to unlock more Wellspring levels (you get +5 levels per Mythical hero)
Or when you need to ascend fodder heroes so they can be used as a Counselor(these grant additional faction boosts)
Unlocking the Wellspring
What it actually means
When you have 5x Mythical Heroes at Lv. 240, the Wellspring unlocks and you no longer have to level each hero independently.
This means every hero in your Wellspring will now all be the same level going forward.
Each additional hero you ascend to Mythical will increase your level cap by 5 extra levels.
It also increases the cap of your constellations.
Do I need to rush to unlock it?
In my opinion... NO. I feel it's a common misconception that unlocking the Wellspring is important.
It really depends on where you are in the game.
Remember that you need 5x Mythical heroes all at Lv. 240 for it to unlock.
Getting 1x Mythical hero to Lv. 240 already requires a significant amount of resources. It also means that you need 4x other heroes at Lv. 200.
As an example, getting from Lv. 160 ➔ 240 requires 535,000 crystals (then you also need to have the Gold and EXP).
Hero Banners & Conjuring Scrolls
General Tips
In every banner event, you get an Elite copy of a hero within the first 10 pulls... So use 1x Conjuring Scroll at a time until you get it.
So ensure you participate in every event as an Elite copy of any hero is good value.
It is best to save and accumulate your conjuring scrolls for specific heroes and their banners (eg. Th’londrir).
In Season 1, expect to spend 120-150 scrolls to get a copy of your desired hero... (but RNG does what RNG does and this is not guaranteed).
It's much safer to wait for the Wishlist feature which is detailed below.
Wishlist
This feature gets introduced in Season 2.
Allowing you to select a desired hero, it ensures that you’re guaranteed that copy on the 3rd Elite Pull, or the 5th Elite Pull if you select an Anointed hero.
To set expectations, ~60 pulls for 3x Elite Pulls is the approximate RNG.