SnowRaven

I voted 1-1 because I generally prefer to use feeders and mats on newer heroes who are not eligible for the hero coach. Exception: Heroes with costumes. In this case I level up the costume first, and as far as it gets. If there's enough time until the hero coach comes around, I level up and ascend the base hero after that, then work with the costume again. Especially effective for classic heroes, when I have 4 or 5 costumes to work on.

Yes, Caleb is good. I have him at level 60 with 25 emblems. Gets him to 855 strength, enough for even 4* tournaments. Particularly effective in bloody battle. In the 3* arena there are no specific fiend killers I know of, besides Chires who destroys fiends on herself when she casts her special. Caleb also has a decent hit. Although for average speed, this is not where he shines. Costumed Valen hits harder at fast speed, and brings defense down. Caleb's domain are the sprouting fiends. I don't think you would benefit much from a second copy. Same heroes don't count for the family bonus. The fiend spawning rate would double, but that isn't much of a help or could be even detrimental, when fiends are replaced with new fiends before they can sprout. Better combine him with other heroes. Like costumed Ulmer, who hits the weakened enemies and brings their defense down. Or Dawn, who keeps the enemies from using their specials, including the healers, while the fiends are gnawing away from them...

That's true. However, Azmia is already maxed. She also heals and has powerful passives. Cyprian's costumes aren't leveled up yet, and to get him to Azmia's strength, all costumes need to be maxed which takes considerable resources. I have Cyprian and use him occasionally, first costume in attack (all allies counterattack) and toon costume in defense. The toon's counterattack cannot be dispelled, but glass heroes can bypass it with their specials. Which reduces the problem to tile damage. That's why considering the given roster, and assuming limited resources, I would rather put the work into Ana-Belle. She's a good healer and both dispells and cleanses, a combination that otherwise needs two heroes. For example, defense down ailments can be cleansed or buff reflection, not only poison/water/burn damage. And on the enemy's side, she dispells attack/defense up, soul connection or ailment reflection. There are plenty of cases where both dispell and cleanse are needed in a battle.

Red - Mael, Maheegan, Gormek (Instead of a 2nd Colen. Gormek is average speed and has more versatile costumes) Purple - Ana-Belle (dispels and cleanses at the same time, no need to switch between costumes or worse, bring 2 heroes), Tiburtus (best with costume), Sharkhai. No need to level Cyprian if you have Azmia, unless you need a 2nd counterattacker in case of 4 element tournaments. Proteus can be substituted with costumed Li Xiu who silences Yellow - Li Xiu (costume), Waddles, Guardian Jackal Blue - Rafeeq, Choozen, Grimm (costume) Green - Caedmon, Kalo, Marcel Caedmon vs Sonya - Both have costumes who cleanse or dispel. With Ana-Belle you need only one additional colour, and Caedmon is more versatile than Sonya. If possible, prefer hero classes who get 4% mana bonus from talents (sorcerer, druid, monk). It's important in rush tournaments, together with the 5% mana bonus from costumes you will get to +9% which means the hero charges in 6 tiles.

Costumed Hulda with matching legendary troops makes a very powerful tank in defense. She's helped to win many wars. Her minions are strong, constant healers and heavily boost defense and mana generation. She's also good in attack, as a team protector, even though defense is where she really shines. I would definitely keep her, cHulda is a hidden gem. I also have Vaishali, but without costume. I don't use her often because of her low stats. I took Eron recently from the fated summon. Like all owls, he's fast but not very strong, and usually dies first. I have Liora and Dvalin, both are strong heroes. I don't have experience with GC but the stats seem pretty outdated.

Who to keep would be a tough choice for me between Louhi and Lepiota. I have Louhi with costume. I don't have Lepiota, but I've played her very successfully in the hero league, even though the guest heroes are not limit broken. Would like to have her. That being said, if you have another priority dispeller, keep Lepiota. Otherwise keep Louhi.

I would keep Penelope and Zavinia. They hit very hard, even if you can fire them only once. Penelope is difficult in rush, you need to bring her insanity down before a second hit. In normal battles, because she's slow speed, she'll be charged late when the enemies are most likely already damaged, and her hard hit makes her a potential teamkiller. Zavinia's multiple hits at fast speed can do huge inital damage in battles, after which there is time to reign in her insanity for a potential second hit.

I would keep Hulda, Liora, Cardinal Richelieu

I have maxed all mimics to LB2. Because they level up quickly, like a costume. Doesn't take that many resources. Elemental attack up adds decent firepower in attack teams. Might be useful against titans if you don't have better attack buffers, but timing will be important. Two turns aren't that long. Main use will be map stages/farming to get the extra loot.

1) My favourites were 1* Sharan and 2* Layla. I used Layla for quite some time, the best 2* in my opinion. I even gave her emblems, but at some point she couldn't keep up anymore, and I had to retire her. 2) It's important to proceed with map missions, to conquer the outposts which boost food and iron production. 3) New players won't have many gems, and it's best to spend them on roster expansion. Not worth buying gems at this point, just collect the free gems from the vision tower and daily streak rewards. 4) Go on raids as often as you can, rewards give a lot of extra food and iron. Play tournaments, they help to fill the heroes chest and give extra rewards at the end. Level up farms first, food is what's most needed throughout the game.