Favorite HotM?

[BobTheSnark]

Thought I'd try broaching a discussion on Heroes of the Month -- partly because they can be contentious. 

By that, I mean that there seem to be some players who seem to be almost-constantly disappointed in HotM.  I'd certainly support HotM having a bit more oomph, but at the same time I still see a use for them for many folks, who might really like either at least semi-modern stats compared to older heroes and/or abilities they just don't have out of the ever-expanding panoply of portals.

so...

• what HotM do you have? like? use?  Either recent (and in current use), or historically (and even that you might love to see costume updates for to make them more feasible choices)?

--

Some for me personally: 
 

• at least semi recently: Claeg (I really needed a 5* blue healer, and one who heals/cleanses at Fast and can't be silenced is useful), Eliane (reasonable damage and dispel and self-mana-gain-from-burn), Mystia (reflect can be one of the most useful abilities in the game, especially against bigger foes), Chloris (decent boost heal with a notable persistent attack buff, if you can keep it; especially nice in Tower events)

 

• older but still useful at times: Mene and Aviana (some damage plus buff-blocking), Roughian & Nurgib (though stats/damage has been really starting to show its age, hit+mana steal is nice, and auto-chomping minions is a tasty passive), Ithar (VF buff-and-mana-steal is a potentially evergreen ability, even if she looks pretty small stats-wise these days)

 

• older favs I'd love to be bigger/more useful again: Malosi (no-status-effects at VF), Grazul (quick heal and ailmentblock), Hanitra (silenceproof Fast dodge and max-health-reduce-proof), Devana (hit-3, dispel-3, summon auto-eats enemy minions), Natalya (uncleansable DoT and significant mana-slow actually can be sneaky good in war cleanups)

 

Edited March 8 by BobTheSnark (see edit history)

[NevarMaor]

Aah, HOTM. I have quite a few now (thanks HA10), and use some pretty regularly. Even Malosi still gets some usage

I think a lot of the constant disappointment in HOTM's comes from higher end players who are used to getting the better event heroes. We saw with Telluria what happens when a HOTM is one of the best. SG aren't likely to repeat that again.

I am currently working on Aurox, and have both Nerasis and Liora on hold, although I have used Nerasis at 4/57 in wars. With both Vernon and Relius now in front of her it may be a while to get back to Liora. Next war I will probably be using Aurox (replacing May). I still use Viselus and Glenda, and only recently stopped using Gregorion.

I have Claeg at 1/1 but I have better (to me) blue healing options. Maybe I need to re-look at him for the resistance to silence. Been facing lots of silencers lately, which can be very frustrating.

The one HOTM I would have loved having earlier in the game was Gravemaker. And I remember the disdain that he got when first released on the old forums. "Ok, very fast but he hits like a deflated balloon!" Or words to that effect ...

[Spinach]

Definitely Chloris, despite sounding like a STD she's really good. Her and Eliane are on all my tower/map teams.

Eldwren is good too, mindless attack is extremely useful. I find him and Von Rothbart either side of Ludwig is a good combination in war for shutting down more powerful teams.

Nebula Nerasis is great on cleanup duty for sniping all the weaklings.

 

There are a few others still on regular war duty: May, Akilius, Florenna, Mene, Uthragan...

Honourable mention to Tahir, while very rarely used any more I had 2 of him on my team for a long time, worked nicely together with Grimm at my lower level back then.

 

Here's hoping to get more HOTM's this year  (7/12 2024, 9/12 2025, so far 2/3 2026. Not bad for ftp. Gotta catch 'em all!)

[Shohoku79]

When it comes to HoTM, first one cuts the deepest for me.   For me that is Frida, my very first HoTM and one of the first non-vanilla 5* I acquired.    She was a premiere HoTM that offered damage, ICE EDD and Dispel in one package.  Sure it would have been nice if the Dispel happened before the damage that would have paid dividends when fighting the Ancient Tiger, but that's what the Caltrops are for.

As time goes on, her stats are being surpassed and and without costume to suit up to keep updated, the mama bear has generally been long forgotten by the player community as better, stronger options came along.

Over the years I have gotten more HoTM, but none of them had the impact that Frida did for me, who I still use to this day and have her pumped to LB2 and I am preparing to have her Emblemed to 25 once I have enough Paladin MB and currently working on a 5* troop to pair with her Paladin class.

[BobTheSnark]

13 hours ago, NevarMaor said:

We saw with Telluria what happens when a HOTM is one of the best.

HA!  Indeed. I landed Vela -- sans Telluria -- and watched my poor waterbender get repeatedly smacked with the nerfstick when she was hardly problematic outside the infamous GTV combo.

But you're right that whole debacle certainly seemed to contribute to making SG gun-shy about "premium" HotM, especially when they decided to instead stick more überheroes in higher-charge premium portals and crank power creep up into exponential power rush.

 

13 hours ago, NevarMaor said:

The one HOTM I would have loved having earlier in the game was Gravemaker.

Alas, poor Gravemaker!  I knew him, @ NevarMaor : a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent burnination; he hath borne me on his back through a thousand raids.

I agree with @ Shohoku79  that you don't forget your first.  I landed GM in an Atlantis "now featuring old HotM" portal pull, already in the autumn of his heyday.  I was a bit nonplussed at his mechanic at first until I gave him a whirl, and learned how different and diverse abilities can be a real strengthening point for a roster.

These days, I'd still love to indulge in Visiting Outfitter to at least land his costume (and the utility of the sneaky VF "passive" dispel-one-from-all it brings), but it's hard to justify vs all the other poor costumeless souls lingering in my roster (and that cGravemaker is probably scarcely a 4* hero, if that, these days).

 

12 hours ago, Spinach said:

mindless attack is extremely useful

Agreed!  Anything that says "no" to an OP hero (much less turns its strength against itself/its teammates) is a nice way to be able to punch up.

And it's why I like to still talk about HotM a fair bit as well -- I agree with @ NevarMaor  that it might be easy for some folks whose roster looks like a Borgified Maha-Astral-Cat-aggeddon to dismiss HotM as "trash", but for F2P they can be indispensable, and for folks in the middle... I sometimes have projects that are a little bit more tempting than a HotM I might also like to level up, but there are times HotM offer a role/color/ability that I really need and they are really nice to have as well.

Even far fallen from their Telluria-gate days, HotM still have a place in the E&P ecosystem.

 

10 hours ago, Shohoku79 said:

When it comes to HoTM, first one cuts the deepest for me.   For me that is Frida, my very first HoTM and one of the first non-vanilla 5* I acquired.    She was a premiere HoTM that offered damage, ICE EDD and Dispel in one package.

Fair!  It is a nice set of abilities, and ... EDD still really isn't that common.  Heck, in my own roster, my source of EDD blue is... cNordri. 

(Heck, my profile pic, Fogg, I still keep around for his EDD.  He was pretty nice when I got him, but I don't even have his costume... and... yeah.)

I do have a Frida, but only long after her release, and while I would like in principle to rank her up... but it's tricky to justify even for Hero Coach if I'm 99% going to use her for titan EDD duty.

Sheesh, we could really use some costume updates for special heroes like this.

[Raffinho]

17 hours ago, NevarMaor said:

Aah, HOTM. I have quite a few now (thanks HA10), and use some pretty regularly. Even Malosi still gets some usage

...

Sounds like me 

My first HOTM was Bertila and I was flashed as hell  I still play her on W3K or alliance wars.

Like her I also use C-Alasie (very often), Grace, Gregorion (blue titans, tower events), Frida (red titans) R&N and Mene (alliance wars, PVP).

From my unleveled list will join (if time is given): May, Zidane, Dvalin, Eldwren

For me, most HOTM are usable or even good. Ans if one has no impact for me (like Gilda), it's useful for other players. It all depends on the personal roster - ok, and some are really crappy 

 

Edited March 10 by Raffinho (see edit history)

[NevarMaor]

My very first HOTM, in fact my very first 5*, was Aeron. I was so stoked when I got him! I used him as my primary healer (even at 3/70) for a good year until I had Ariel.

Actually, when I got him I thought the game had glitched because it gave me two heroes from the same draw. It wasn't until after that I figured out what HOTM were.

And, as I said a few times on the old forums, my next HOTM was Gregorion. Oh to have got the two HOTM between those two instead.

Spoiler

For the record:  Gravemaker and Alasie

[Maryij - Ghost Division RO]

Mine was Perseus, I got him the suit last VO!

[mpolo]

Telluria hurt a lot for me. I got like 4 of him/her/it, and got about two weeks of use before nerfing to oblivion. (Never got Vela until years later, nor Gravemaker, so felt really put upon when I lost my best hero because of the combo).

I'm currently using Eldwren on my purple raid team, but that could easily change with a lucky pull somewhere else. Aurox is doing a good job on my yellow team as well.

I used Roughian and Nurgib a good long time, and Kara. I have Seshat maxed with costume and she occasionally gets play (3 costume PoG challenge, for instance). Kingston was a favorite for some time, but haven't used him in a while. I got Ares and Gravemaker very late to the party, so they seldom get used. Iris was useful for a while, as was Malicna. I keep saying I'm going to finish Chloris, but I have Vernon to finish, followed by Broseph, so it'll be a while.

I had five of the HotM last month and had intended to keep one, but traded them all off for SE.

[AeroMatix]

Perseus and Hel are sentimental to me, and ironically with costumes are 2 of the best.

[BobTheSnark]

It sure helps when a HotM has a unique ability (unlike, say, this month's Gilda and her chain-hit being upstaged by Asakura Masao before even getting halfway through the month she was released in) - and it's interesting that cPerseus and cHel at least still have that going for them!

[Habanero]

I don't have many HotMs on me right now... Only:

- Florenna: I like her, though her skill is a little tricky to use and can be ruined by other characters with poison damage. I often pair her with Goorian for elemental link.
- Eldwren: he was a controversial hero upon release, but now most people seem to like him. Mine is still at LV1 and I used him on the first levels of some events. Maybe I'll like him better than Florenna, because I love Mindless Attack.

Soul Exchange made me say goodbye to:

- André de Clermont x2: I have Sedille. She is slow enough for me. I don't want another slow fire hero.
- Nerasis:  I'm really sorry I gave up on you, Nerasis. Weak, but super fun to play. I hope to see you again one day.

I wish I had them:
- Eliane
- May

[NevarMaor]

Ones I've wished I had over the years ...

• Hel
• Gravemaker
• Telluria (in her heyday of course)
• Roughian & Nurgib (wow, I did spell it right!)
• Eliane
• Chloris

I would still gladly take any of them except probably Telly, who was nerfed to oblivion.

Edited March 12 by NevarMaor (see edit history)

[Raffinho]

10 minutes ago, NevarMaor said:

Ones I've wished I had over the years ...

• Hel
• Gravemaker
• Telluria (in her heyday of course)
• Roughian & Nurgib (wow, I did spell it right!)
• Eliane
• Chloris

I would still gladly take any of them except probably Telly, who was nerfed to oblivion.

I would go along except Gravemaker. Even with VF mana and costume, he unfortunatelly doesn't make a difference in todays game status.

R&N are still nice (for me), Hel is the one I ever wanted (and want) and Chloris could be nice as well. 

[HootingPirate]

May was the shining star of 2025. People crapped all over her when her beta was posted. But she turned out to be useful in all areas of the game.

Sadly I no longer level HotMs even though I'm F2P. The last I did was Aurox, and barely used him. The problem, as a long time player, is that I already have 36 heroes at 2LB, and HotMs at 1LB just can't compete with them. And AAs just aren't plentiful enough to consider them for 2LB.

[DarkSoulsMaster]

First thought that came to mind for me was May. In my case, she was a game-changer because I was mostly F2P at the time and didn’t spend as much as I do now. Her growth was what allowed me to start punching above my weight, completing events I previously couldn’t, and overall just have a hero I can stick anywhere and make it work. I don’t use her as much as I used to because I have Ragrim now, but I still find use for her plenty, especially in titan hits and yellow stacks.

Eldwren is another hero I was glad to pull. As I previously stated, I was mostly F2P until recently (I know these heroes aren’t THAT old, so the change is fairly recent) so his mindless attack is another game changer that leveled up my offense by a lot. I pair him with Ludwig and Aramis, and those three make a trio that almost never fails. Oh and his passives are nice too, they definitely help when going against higher end teams.

In terms of older heroes, Malosi was another easy pick. Just like Eldwren, I loved being able to slap him in a team and shut down targets at very fast speed. I got him a couple years ago and didn’t stop until I got Aurox and Daemon. Nowadays he’s aether reset in favor of those other two, but I may bring him back one day when my resources call for it. Maybe.

Lastly I’ve got to mention Athena. She was my favorite hero for a good while because of, you guessed it, her defense down. Boy did I love that. Made defenses and titans melt. Got her costume, limit broke her, and she’s just as useful as she was when I got her. Love you Athena.

[Steve]

Currently working on Dvalin to replace Mene and Gilda because she's fast and my yellows are weak.  My first was Tahir, although he hasn't been used in forever.  Best of the last five years has to be Chloris, she's still my #1 green healer. 

[Gargon]

I guess I am nowadays playing in a part of the game where hotms are not a thing anymore.
The last one I maxed more than 2 years ago (actually maxed 2 copies) was R&N. Since then I have maxed 1 hotm (Mystia) for extreme niche purposes. Nothing else has ever even been close to be useful. But I have a few meta heroes and otherwise solid new and strong older heroes. hotms just don´t make it into such a world.

For new FTP players of course the latest ones are always going to be useful while they are the biggest heroes they have.
But besides that (meaning the latest few) most of them are outclassed by strong 4star heroes. Of course that means having strong 4 star heroes... So for people that play with bad 4 stars and 3star yes hotms are upgrades...

I see people talking about heroes like Chloris, but even when new, she wasn´t much of an upgrade to Melendor (in my opinion actually a downgrade), but that was when she was new. Today she´s a complete waste of mats and Melendor keeps getting better and better .

[BobTheSnark]

On 3/12/2026 at 8:19 PM, HootingPirate said:

The problem, as a long time player, is that I already have 36 heroes at 2LB, and HotMs at 1LB just can't compete with them

For me, I suppose the issue is whether a HotM fills in something I don't need.  Sure, yeah, if a HotM is a [generic green sniper] and I have other [generic green snipers], especially less than (say) a year old, then sure, I'm not going to tip toward the HotM either.

But if the HotM brings something I don't have -- or even something I do have, but only on a hero whose card and/or latest costume is at least two.. or three.. or five years old -- then I can't ignore the potential, certainly.

 

20 hours ago, Gargon said:

I see people talking about heroes like Chloris, but even when new, she wasn´t much of an upgrade to Melendor (in my opinion actually a downgrade), but that was when she was new. Today she´s a complete waste of mats and Melendor keeps getting better and better

Hi.



That kind of attack boosting is at least kinda notable, not least of all in Towers or even in Buff Booster attack teams.  For people who have no choice but to attack uphill in raids/tourneys/W3K/HL/etc., big attack buffs can be at least the occasional puncher's chance.

And Chloris does, you know, boost heal.  That might not be exciting for someone who already has significant boost healing in every flavor of the rainbow, but for other folks it's handy to have -- not so much because it replaces primary healing, but it can supplement it.

Sure, yes, okay, for someone who already has heroes who can match opponents stat-for-stat, why ever bring anything smaller, excepting perhaps really unique abilities? But HotM aren't the gift for the SG player who already has everything, natch.

And yeah, it doesn't help that in their infinite wisdom SG decided to stop selling (what were pretty popular and nice-to-have)  HotM costumes some time ago, while cranking out costumes for an ever-widening array of other heroes instead.  If Chloris were to actually get a costume like, oh, I dunno, Eiora or Xiaotu or, yes, even Melendor's Katamari-Damacy-ball-of-five-costumes, she'd pretty arguably still be significantly viable.

(And for the record, I still use my Chloris even as is.)

Heck, I'd go start a thread with SG asking them to spur along development of Tavern of Legends for the purpose to start cranking out HotM costumes again!   --but given my general track record with SG, if they did note my request then the most likely result would probably be *checks notes*

• there would be instead released a berjillionth   new hero family, the Übermensch, who would have all the abilities of Cats and Mahayoddha rolled into one, plus
• cost 800 gems per summon for a 0.3% chance of featured Übermensch hero, "No Classic 5* Heroes," but all non-featured 5* heroes would be HotM from, oh, 2023 or before (and in a "glitch," those HotM lucky enough to actually have costumes would not have them included)
• like the Bazaar Summon, the Übermensch Tavern of Legends Summon would not have a chance to grant the current HotM because irony
• the Übermensch hero "passive" would be something like "reach through the screen into the physical world and punch target player in the face"

[Gargon]

3 hours ago, BobTheSnark said:

That kind of attack boosting is at least kinda notable, not least of all in Towers or even in Buff Booster attack teams.  For people who have no choice but to attack uphill in raids/tourneys/W3K/HL/etc., big attack buffs can be at least the occasional puncher's chance.

And Chloris does, you know, boost heal.  That might not be exciting for someone who already has significant boost healing in every flavor of the rainbow, but for other folks it's handy to have -- not so much because it replaces primary healing, but it can supplement it.

I never said Chloris is completely and utterly useless, I just say Melendor is the better hero. But even the weaker hero has a few niches where she´ll be better than Melendor. Would I level her for the occasional niche use where she actually will be better than Melendor? No, of course not. I am of course a bad example, I have heroes that actually are better than Melendor, so I don´t even need er ass a bench warmer. I don´t actually play 4star heroes in wars unless extreme circumstances. Just saying that is where Chloris is at. Struggling to keep up with 4 stars and in most cases losing.
Now if I had 100 of each  4star mat and zero other heroes to level, then why the hell not level her, Malosi, Grazul and Noor, too? They all have potential use cases. But if I have to economize my resources and make choices between heroes, well all of them are very far down the line.
There is no right or wrong here, it´s a simple matter of roster strength, the better the roster the fewer heroes are worth spending resources on, while the weakest rosters can basically max any hero and benefit from it.

[NevarMaor]

Melendor is certainly "easier" to max (less so with each released costume) than Chloris, but other than the dispel he does not offer any great advantages. His health and defence are lower, making him less durable, and he doesn't boost health. I don't think you can definitively say Melendor is the better hero. They both have their place, and I have two maxed Mels (and a third at 4/70) I use since my only other green healer is LotL (and Belith). But if I had Chloris and maxed her she and Mel would likely get equal use depending on the opponent.

Edited Tuesday at 12:14 PM by NevarMaor (see edit history)

[A&T]

Personally, I hate Hotm, they take space and if you pull a lot you can have too much. There a way better heroes and it's not worth it to level them. That being said Mystia is my favorite bcs useful against Bearnadette but even then I never brought her to level 90, missing AA, and it's a risk to use her. Although if she can fire first what a relief! 

For sure they should keep costume for Hotm. I always wanted Perseus, and I finally got him, not sure how long it will take to level though. I also Maxed May but it would have been better to keep her at level 85. It was my first growth hero but now I have much better. It wouldn't have hurt the game to make her better. 

With the dupe thing it's tempting to level just to level fast but then you're stuck at level 70 bcs don't waste your ascension mats on that. I get that for other rosters it's not the same, and SG thinks of all it's players. But if anything they should make it fully leveled. This way it could be really exciting for most players giving it a reason why it's And for others it would be a leveling boost and 10 gems for the museum without wasting your precious mats. SG would not lose profit (for spenders it's a small by-product) and probably keep more players playing. Win/Win IMO

Edited Tuesday at 01:01 PM by A&T (see edit history)

[Spinach]

6 hours ago, BobTheSnark said:

• there would be instead released a berjillionth   new hero family, the Übermensch, who would have all the abilities of Cats and Mahayoddha rolled into one, plus
• cost 800 gems per summon for a 0.3% chance of featured Übermensch hero, "No Classic 5* Heroes," but all non-featured 5* heroes would be HotM from, oh, 2023 or before (and in a "glitch," those HotM lucky enough to actually have costumes would not have them included)
• like the Bazaar Summon, the Übermensch Tavern of Legends Summon would not have a chance to grant the current HotM because irony
• the Übermensch hero "passive" would be something like "reach through the screen into the physical world and punch target player in the face"

Dammit don't give them ideas! I hope SG never see this post... 

[BatFromHel]

Chloris, cHel and Dvalin are in use. R&N are (next to Hel) my faves, because they brought my Game to a new level. Sadly they had to be more or less retired lately