Not every S-tier hero in Top Heroes is worth building. Some are traps that drain resources without returning proportional power. Here is which heroes to actually invest in, per game mode, and which ones to stop at.
Tier lists in Top Heroes rank heroes by raw stats and stop there. The number that actually matters is return on investment — which hero produces the most power per shard, per meat, per diamond. An S-tier hero that requires 27 Soul Stones and three full gear sets to reach competitive performance is a resource trap. This guide is about which heroes to build, how far, and when to stop. Players keeping their diamond balance ready for pulls can manage their LootBar Top Heroes top-up before the next banner.
Enjoy up to 22% off on Top Heroes: Kingdom Saga Top-Ups.
3-Minute Delivery for Non-Stop Gaming.
Trusted 4.9/5 on Trustpilot, 10/10 among Players.
Official Partnership Route, Protect Your Game Wallet.
The Cheapest High-Return Investment in the Game: Epic Hero Passives
Before touching any faction hero, two Epic heroes deserve immediate investment that most players skip. Brawler and Knight both unlock a global passive trait at 2-Star Platinum that applies account-wide, not just to the team they sit in. Brawler gives +30% Tech Research Speed. Knight gives +30% Training Speed. These are not combat bonuses. They accelerate the two systems — research and troop training — that compound into every other part of the game over months. Ranger adds +30% Ruby Gathering Speed at medium priority. All three cost far less than any Mythic hero investment and return value indefinitely.
Do not level Blue or Purple heroes past level 120. Meat is the bottleneck resource in Top Heroes and it disappears faster than any other. Every meat point spent above 120 on a non-core hero is meat not going toward the carries that determine the account ceiling. The correct use of Brawler, Knight, and Ranger is to max their passive, then stop investing.
Tidecaller: The Highest Return Hero in the Game
Tidecaller is the single hero most consistently identified across community tier lists and the topheroes.info strategy database as the best hero in the game by return on investment. The reason is the triple-role kit: Tank, Healer, and DPS in one slot. Most heroes occupy one role and require other heroes around them to cover the gaps. Tidecaller fills her own gaps. The formation built around her needs less healing support from other slots, which opens those slots for additional damage or utility.
Exclusive Gear for Tidecaller should go to +10 before any other Nature hero receives Exclusive Gear investment. The same logic applies to Altar Marshal. After those two, the investment ceiling for Nature heroes becomes a question of which content the account is targeting — Pixie for PvP and open-map content where her 22% dodge rate and ground-trap immunity produce consistent returns, Forest Maiden for PvE and raid content where redirecting enemy targeting extends the formation's survivability window.
Awakening priority: Pixie first at 2+1, Forest Maiden second at 2+1, then Sage. This order is the community consensus and not one to deviate from without a specific, verified reason.
Adjudicator: The One Tank Worth Maxing
Most tanks in Top Heroes are functional at mid-investment levels. Adjudicator is the exception. His invincibility frames unlock at maximum rank and those frames are what make the League lineup competitively viable in boss content — the ability to absorb mechanics that would otherwise wipe the formation changes the content ceiling of the entire team around him. Building Adjudicator to anything below max rank leaves the most valuable part of his kit locked.
If League is the committed faction, Adjudicator to max is non-negotiable. If the primary faction is Horde or Nature, he sits behind those carries. Do not cross-invest in League tanks while the primary faction is still incomplete.
Paragon: The Support Who Carries
Paragon is nominally a support hero. The 10% damage bonus he provides to all allies means his contribution to the formation's total damage output can exceed what a second dedicated DPS would produce in the same slot. Teams without Paragon consistently underperform against content that requires sustained damage output — the missing 10% compounds across every hero's every skill activation across the full fight duration.
He is the League faction's main damage carry by multiplier rather than by direct output, which means his value scales with how strong the other heroes around him are. A full League lineup with Paragon properly invested outperforms the same lineup with Paragon at a lower investment level by more than his individual stats suggest. Build him alongside Adjudicator, not before.
Wanderer: The Horde Carry Worth Protecting
Wanderer is the essential DPS carry for Horde and the hero the entire Horde formation is built to protect. Beastmaster and Desert Prince in the front row exist to give Wanderer time to deal damage without losing the frontline. Storm Maiden and Witch in the back row support his output. The Horde formation's strength in PvE and boss content is entirely dependent on Wanderer reaching his damage windows safely.
Horde is the cheapest faction to build to competitive level, requiring fewer awakened Legendaries than Nature or League. That cost efficiency makes Wanderer one of the best early investments in the game for players who want competitive power without the resource ceiling that League demands. Awakening priority: Soulmancer or Barbarian first at 4+1, then Warlock. Soulmancer specifically is the flexible slot — his health-draining mechanics and unpredictable PvP engagement patterns provide genuine value even when the full Horde lineup is not yet complete.
The Heroes That Look Worth Building and Are Not
Temporary heroes are the most common resource drain in Top Heroes. Secret Keeper is the clearest example — a serviceable frontline holder for the League faction before Rose Princess is available at Mythic tier, but a dead investment once Rose Princess is ready. Universal Legendary Shards spent on Secret Keeper cannot be recovered. The correct approach is to let Secret Keeper function at whatever level she naturally reaches through normal play and redirect every rare shard toward Rose Princess from the beginning.
The broader pattern applies to any hero described as a bridge or placeholder in community guides. These heroes serve a purpose but have a defined stopping point. That stopping point is usually much lower than players tend to push them. A-tier heroes are viable in endgame if geared correctly. Using them to fill faction gaps while the primary carries develop is the right application. Overinvesting past that point because they feel strong in the current content stage is the trap.
Universal Legendary Shards should never go to Legendary heroes regardless of how useful that hero appears at the current progression stage. Save them exclusively for Mythic heroes. This is irreversible when done wrong and the most expensive mistake in the game by a wide margin.
The Astrologer Exception
Astrologer is the outlier hero that most tier lists place lower than her actual game-mode-specific value. In single-target boss fights and high-burst PvP exchanges, her damage output is exceptional. She synergises directly with Adjudicator and Paragon for an additional 10% damage bonus on top of Paragon's baseline buff, which produces extreme burst windows against priority targets. She is not a roster-wide carry. She is a boss and PvP specialist whose value is concentrated rather than general.
The investment case for Astrologer: if the primary content being targeted is world bosses or high-burst PvP rather than sustained war phases, she returns more per investment than most S-tier heroes in the same role. If the content is sustained KvK or Guild War, she underperforms her tier placement and the investment is better directed elsewhere.
Conclusion
The tier list that matters in Top Heroes is not S, A, B, C by raw stats. It is which heroes return the most value per resource spent, at which investment level, for the content the account is actually doing. Brawler and Knight passive traits first — highest return for lowest cost in the game. Tidecaller to Exclusive Gear +10 before any other Nature hero. Adjudicator to max if League is the committed faction. Paragon built alongside Adjudicator, not before. Wanderer protected by a functional Horde frontline. Secret Keeper and other bridge heroes held at natural progression levels with rare shards saved for Mythic carries. That discipline produces a stronger account than any individual hero choice.
Players keeping their diamond balance ready for the next banner can manage their Top Heroes top up through LootBar.
