Hero

Why did Bushiroad make a Hero archetype outside of a Hero World?

Heroes was the part of Legend World I was most excited for. I know they started with the knights of Arthurian lore, but just think of all the different heroes they could make from other myths and tales. Heracles. Sun Wukong. Susanoo. Mulan. Endless possibilities...but then I saw the art and I stopped caring. Gawain, what the hell happened to your face?

Hero as an archetype takes a bit after Adventurers from Dungeon World with link attack bonuses galore. However, what makes them different is a vastly different resource engine and spell selection. While Adventurers could tutor for days, Heroes rely heavily on a strong weapon lineup along with tons of gauge to pull off some ridiculous plays.

All hero decks MUST be sleeved with Saber sleeves.

Dumbledore

Great Magician, Merlin is our only true resource gainer. He acts a lot like Shiden, except he has a lot more going for him. Namely the 2-crit. Merlin hits hard and plusses alongside that, making him an integral part of the Hero winning image. Incubus Blood costs 1 gauge and 1 Hero card to check the top 5 cards of your deck. You can choose up to 2 Spell/Item cards to add to your hand, so a +0.5. The main downside to this is that no matter what, you're not going to get more monster cards from this ability and there's the very, very small possibility you might completely whiff (-1.5 for nothing). But the upside is pretty huge. You can dig deep for the clutch Heroic Spirit, grab that extra Holy Grail, or unleash the power of Excalibur. Very nice.

Do remember that the cards go to the bottom of your deck, so if you don't have a reshuffler expect to never see those cards again and plan accordingly. Additionally, you should try to make sure Merlin has enough targets to actually plus as much as possible. Also, since Merlin will only get items and spells, make sure you use Incubus Blood with your excess weapons and try not to sacrifice monsters for it.

I really do look like a girl

King Arthur is the main offensive powerhouse of Heroes. While his stats seem a bit lackluster (-1 including call cost), his ability more than makes up for it. Whenever he link attacks with another Hero (-1 again), he gets the ability to gain 1 gauge and Penetrate, which is a total of +1.5 advantage if they have a monster in the center. Wait. Didn't I say he makes up for it? Why is it a -0.5 right now? One word: Prydwen.

Ugly Gawain might be even better than Arthur in terms of pure offensive advantage. He comes out at a rather standard 4000/2/1000, but he gets Penetrate (+1) if he link attacks (-1). Don't be fooled by the seeming situational wash, because Gawain is most definitely a plus. Why? One word: Prydwen.

Knight of Godly Speed

Galahad is also here, looking a lot less awesome than his Vanguard counterpart. This time, his link attack bonus is a definite minus, paying 3 gauge on top of the -1 link attack to gain 1 Holy Grail from the drop. A quite sad -1.5. But the ability to salvage your main negate and the complete dependence of this build on Holy Grail makes Galahad a necessary evil. And actually, he's really only a -0.5. Again you might be asking why. One word: Prydwen.

Quick note: Arthur, Gawain, and Galahad all have [Auto] abilities that trigger on link-attack. Said abilities will always create a stack that can be Countered and will not allow you to critically Breathen Gard for pain.

Because Prydwen is broken. Look at that shield. Look at that attribute. Yes, this shield is a freaking Hero. Literally. You can use its Counter Equipment Change once a turn to gain a standing item that you can attack with. Or more importantly, link attack with. Prydwen adds no additional damage or utility, but is able to proc every single link attack bonus for free, essentially. You lose nothing from Counter equipping Prydwen as long as you activate Equipment Change. Due to the fact that Equipment Change is limited to once per turn, you're likely only to pull this combo off once every few turns (since you probably want to equip a real weapon at the beginning of your turn). But this easily allows you to make sure you can activate any link attack bonus without fear of minusing like crazy.

And let's remind everyone once again how math works: the link attack minus calculation is applied once per link attack. So if Arthur and Gawain link attacks, you apply the link attack minus once (-1). Then Arthur's plus (+1.5), followed by Gawain's (+1), which means that the entire link attack becomes a +1.5. I think some people were confused when I introduced this with Adventurers, so I'm covering my bases here.

Heroes also have a great 2-crit Size 1 Mover. Wonderful. I'm really going to have to make a decklist for this archetype.

Bigger for reasons

I've saved the best for last. Here we go! EXCALIBUR!!!!! This card deserves to be described in all caps because it's that epic - alongside Saturday Night Fever, Grandfather Clock, Tempest Enforcer, Goldritter, and Ragnarok, its one of the few cards that can single-handedly end games. You can only equip this mid to late game when you have lots of dead Heroes (Merlin helps), and you have to relinquish an invaluable Holy Grail for it (hence Galahad), but damn, is it worth it. 10000/3 weapon. Cannot be negated by "Shields". Equipment Change. DOUBLE ATTACK. That's 6 damage from a weapon, and then you've got your monsters to be reckoned with. And there's practically nothing that Dragon World can do about it (and Magic gets accidentally screwed in the process as well).

However, though the weapon is just so good, Excalibur is probably the most vulnerable aspect of a Hero deck. Unlike Durandal which can't be destroyed ever, Excalibur is prey to the most basic threats against weapons, from Demongodol Ark to Guillotine Cutter. When you switch to Excalibur, you need to make sure that your ass is covered and that it won't come back to bite you. And make sure there's ways for you to recover from losing Excalibur, if that dire circumstance ever arises.

But can you seriously believe that a weapon like that costs no gauge?

I also drive a panther

Hey look, its Addrick for Heroes. It's a good option to sub in for Gawain when you're fairly certain that Penetrate won't help, or if you find yourself linking sides a lot to take care of big threats (in which case, you might be playing Heroes wrong).

We've recently got two PR Valkyries to buff the Hero lineup up. The first is Salvation Eir, a 6000/2/4000 Size 2 that pays 2 gauge to call out a Size 1 from your drop. Pretty standard 2 gauge for 1 card trade, your likely targets are the Mover and Beowulf. Really good in Legend World because Zlatarog makes gauge easy. The second one, Brilliant Brynhildr, is even better. Pay 1 gauge for top-soulcharge and Move on a 5000/2/3000 body (remember the errata). Mathematically, the card is fair but I'd rather have those keywords Move and Soulguard than 4000 distributed stats. With another great Move option, Heroes can start to look more like Armordragons and not have to rely solely on link attacks to accrue advantage, instead focusing on how to maximize their beatstick with each separate attack.

Man, if Beowulf weren't a thing I would say this card is fantastic. But Beowulf is, and you're strapped on Size 2 space, so Siegfried is unfortunately sidelined most of the time. Beowulf deals with drags better and Brynhildr is a better Move recipient...although siding Siegfried is a great idea so that you can just pop him in versus any Dragon build and just watch your opponent completely lose under the triple anti-Dragon threat.

My sword is so sad

I thought Heroes were going to be dead, but then they got this Impact that made me like "Wow, they might have a chance". King's Wave, Caliburn Grief is their new Impact that allows you to wipe all monsters and spells on the field. For only 2 gauge; what a deal. Of course, this includes your own but lookie here, is that a Counter timing I see? That means that you can cast Caliburn anytime you want - Draw, Main, Final, even as a reaction to something. That's its first sales point. The second is that it kills your Gleipnir on field, allowing you to bring out a Size 3 you've kept hiding there. We don't have a Hero Size 3 yet, but you can combo with Asgard stuff to get some funk synergies on the board.

The main thing that Heroes specifically get that makes their game a lot more interesting is Mabinogion. Once per turn, when you link attack, Mabinogion grants a card draw. If you can activate Mabinogion two turns, you basically used a Defeat Monsters! Since link attacking with Prydwen procs link attack effects, you can base a deck around changing Prydwen into Prydwen and activating as many bonuses as possible each turn.

Smells like Fate

Of course, we also have the new Fairy/Hero cards that work well, so be sure to grab some Oberons and Daoine Shee for Size 3 and Size 1 presence.

Whoa whoa whoaaaa there! A Fleeting Dream is possibly the best thing Heros could have ever wanted. Advantage out the door, really. But the best thing is in the fine text. Do you see what is required to proc the effect? A Size 2 or greater monster. Not Hero. You search the Hero monster. But you can call anything (say, a Zlatarog) and get a Hero. Yup, that's right. It works perfectly with Zlatarog. The synergy. And since it's a Size 1 or lower monster, you can call something like Oberon and grab something like...well, actually, the only Size 0 target currently is Alwidol. Huh.

- updated to H-BT04, CP01, H-EB04, H-TD02, H-PP01 -

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