Table of Contents
What are hero costumes
Hero Costumes are a new way to change the way you play with your favourite Heroes. Each Costume has different Stats and Special Skills than the original Hero. Hero Costumes can be acquired from the Costume Chamber/Quest
Hero Costumes are unlocked when you reach Level 18. There are Costumes of three rarities:
- Rare Costumes are for Rare Heroes
- Epic Costumes for Epic Heroes
- Legendary Costumes for Legendary Heroes
A Costume always has a different Special Skill and Hero Class than the original Hero. Both the original Hero and the Costume share the progression on the Talent Grid. Talent Grid Nodes can only be learned in the original Hero’s Talent Grid.
How do Hero Costumes work
- Hero costumes require the original hero to “activate”
- Both hero and hero costumes need to be max for the full effect to take place.
- Hero costumes cannot be ascended higher than the original hero. Example: An ascension 3, level 70 Vivica cannot ascend her costume (supreme Magician) to ascension 4. (See here – Error Message when leveling a costume on an unleveled hero)
- Hero costumes give a stat bonus
- During wars, the once per use limit on heroes applies to both the costume and hero. (You cannot use Viking Champion and Sonya in the same Alliance war, you may only use either one.)
- Leveled Costumes are not interchangeable – you need to level 2 costumes to use both costumed heroes. Example here
Costume Chamber
- Each costume pull costs 5 Keys or 350 gems
- 10x pulls cost 3000 gems
- Every 10 pulls gives you a chance for a rare/epic ascension material (similar to atlantis summon)
Costume Quest
Costume Quest Tips, tricks and hacks
If you are having trouble clearing any of the stages because you do not have the right heroes, here is a strategy you can consider.
- Put 2-3 healers into your team, along with heroes that add defense up, or have attack reduction debuff.
- Bring along the following items : Axe attacks, Bomb attacks, Dragon attacks and Mana potions (Small or medium)
- Clear the first 2-3 waves of monsters without using items
- Try to enter the boss stage with full mana for all heroes
- Use all your Bomb attacks, Dragon attacks & Axe attacks on the bosses straight away. This will give you a total of 4500 Damage, which will outright complete the stage for you.
Farming for hero costume – Getting hero costumes for free
There are two main ways to get hero costumes for free.
The first is by gems (which we highly do not recommend. Gems should be used for Atlantis summons, Challenge event summons and Valhalla season 3 heroes). You can check out our guide to Farming Gems in Empires and Puzzles here
The second way is by getting costume keys. Costume keys are obtainable from Costume quest, Alliance War Chest, Mystic Vision & wanted missions
All Hero costumes
Updated 19 – May – 2020 for the new hero costumes
The main purpose of the following table is to assist you in deciding whether you should spend resources to level up the original hero and the hero's costume.Ratings 1 & 2 : Super low priority
Rating 3: Medium Priority - Level the costume if you have the spare resources, since these heroes will see some play in some aspects of the game.
Rating 4: Level the costumes ASAP if you already have the fully leveled hero.
Rating 5: The Costume is good enough to see viable competitive play. A must to level if you have the costume.
| Original Hero | Hero Costume | Original hero grade | Costume Grading | Recommended to level? (1 to 5, 5 being MUST level) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elena | Captain of Fire | B | B | 1: Elena seldom sees play |
| Azlar | King of the Leors | B | A+ | 5: The new special Makes Azlar great in Defense and against titans. Given how many green tanks there are, Azlar would be great in offense as well. |
| Boldtusk | Cast Iron Chef | A | B | 3: For stat bonus only |
| Hawkmoon | Ascendant Chief | A | A+ | 4: Great for tournaments |
| Azar | Seeker of Gods | B | C | 1: Meh - Azar seldom sees play, Costume doesn't make Azar all that great either |
| Isarnia | Icewitch of Glaceholm | B | A | 3: For stat bonus |
| Richard | Axe of Justice | B | B | 3: For stat bonus |
| Magni | Monolith of Ice | A | A+ | 5: Despite reduction in damage %, the defense reduction is awesome, improving Magni in both offense, Defense and against titans. Only downside is that Magni requires fighter Emblems, of which there are many competitors |
| Kiril | Master Shredder | A | A+ | 5: Both versions of Kiril are highly usable, which version you use is dependent on your team composition. |
| Boril | Heavyweight Defender | C | C | 1: Meh. |
| Sonya | Viking Champion | B | A | 5: Diversity in use. |
| Karil | The Heated | B | B | 3: For stat bonus. (Karil mostly sees play in Challenge Events) |
| Gunnar | Blacksmith | B | B | 4: Diversity in use |
| Lianna | Noble Guardian | A | A+ | 3: For stat bonus |
| Horghall | Wooden Jester | B | B | 1: Horghall seldom sees play |
| Elkanen | Moonlit Conquerer | B | B | 3: For stat bonus. Elkanen is unimpressive on his own. |
| Kadilen | Priestess of Moonlight | B | B | 3: Is Special Defense better or Dodge better? Its quite debatable. |
| Melendor | Mighty Wizard | A | B | 3: For stat bonus |
| Skittleskull | Candy Witch | C | C | 1: Skittleskull seldom sees play |
| Kashrek | Lizardfolk Elder | C | C | 1: Kashrek seldom sees play.. If you have nothing to better to do.. sure.. |
| Caedmon | Elven Avenger | B | A | 4: Diversity in use. |
| Little John | Stealthy Brother | C | C | 1: Little John seldom sees play. The new effect is great, but at slow speed - kinda useless. |
| Brienne | Shaman of Concordia | A | A | 5: Diversity in use, for tournaments |
| Isshtak | Lizardfolk Ancestor | B | A | 5: Awesome for challenge events and tournament battles. |
| Carver | The Cutthroat | B | B | 2: Seldom sees play. Also not good enough for tournaments |
| Friar Tuck | Jovial Explorer | B | A+ | 5: Great for Tournaments. (Buff booster and Rush Attack) |
| Belith | Grove Spirit | B | A | 5: Great for buff booster and rush attack tournaments |
| Berden | Adroit Archer | A | A+ | 4: Good for Tournaments |
| Vivica | Magician Supreme | B | A | 5: Diversity in use, stat bonus, great VS titans |
| Joon | Fury of the Sun | A | A | 3: For stat bonus |
| Li Xiu | Ceremonial Assassin | C | C | 2: For stat bonus |
| Bane | Noble Brawler | A | A | 3: For stat bonus |
| Qiuntus | Electro Scientist | B | B | 1: Quintus seldom sees play |
| Domitia | Steampunk Sniper | B | A | 4: Awesome in today's meta (due to the amount of buffs and debuffs) The added poison damage is also quite significant. |
| Sartana | Monstress of Descenthia | A | A | 5: Sartana is already a grade A hero. If you have the costume - even better. It is debatable that the costume is better than original Sartana. A bulk of Sartana's damage actually comes from Damage over time. |
| Rigard | Dapper Noble | A | A | 5: Stat bonus, diversity in use, |
| Tibertus | Duke of Rock | A | A | 3: For stat bonus |
| Tyrum | Roman Remnant | B | B | 4: For stat bonus + Diversity in use |
| Prisca | Resolute Overseer | C | C | 1: Meh. |
| Balthazaar | Undead Magician | A | A | 4: Balthazaar has always been one of the best Rare heroes. Having additional stats is always good |
| Renfeld | Unhinged Surgeon | C | A+ | 5: A new powerful special skill. |
More Hero Reviews here
All Empires and Puzzles Heroes
All Beta / Unreleased Heroes here
Should I level / Ascend my hero costume?
You should level up most of the costumes that you have received. It costs lesser food, and feeder heroes to level up the costumes. Plus there are only upsides when you level up and ascend a hero costumes. It is easier to follow exceptions to this.
Exceptions to leveling up costumes are as such
- You do not have the original hero fully ascended, or do not intend to fully ascend the original hero. (e.g. Quintus/Horghall. Both examples are underwhelming heroes, with and/or without costume).
- You have just started the game and are building a deeper War bench. Leveling a costume makes your hero slightly stronger. However, having fully leveled epic heroes is the most important marker for alliance war success.
If you have many hero costumes, prioritize costumes that you already have the fully ascended and leveled original hero, and prioritize costumes that give you added versatility to your heroes. Examples are like Rigard & Sonya.
Hero costume review
As mentioned earlier, if you have the spare food and resources to level up all your costumes, please go ahead to do so. There is literally no downside for doing so.
However, if you are short on resources and would like to choose which costumes to prioritize, do see the Hero costume list above
The main reason why these heroes are prioritized is because of the added versatility it brings to your raid teams.
For example, when fighting against Red Tanks, you can bring Sonya against Ares, or Viking Champion against Gravemakers.
Awesome Hero Costumes – MUST level up
Azlar – King of the Leors
Magni – Monolith of Ice
Sartana – Monstress of Descenthia
Kiril – Master Shredder
Caedmon – Elven Avenger
Melendor – Mighty Wizard
Rigard – Dapper Noble
Sonya – Viking Champion
Isshtak – Lizardfolk Ancestor
Belith – Grove spirit
Berden – Adroit Archer
Friar Tuck – Jovial Explorer
Tyrum – Roman Remnant
Renfeld – Unhinged Surgeon
Hawkmoon – Ascendant Chief
Brienne – Shaman of Concordia
Everyone else – low priority
I have the Belith costume, and both she and the normal Belith are fully maxed. However, the costume Belith is stuck at level 7/8. The normal Belith is 8/8. I have tried using both another Belith costume and a hero Belith to raise the costume to 8/8, but nothing seems to raise that level. How do I get the costume level to 8/8 ? Thank you !!
Just throw more feeder heroes at belith.. It’s all luck..
You have to either put 10 1 star or 5 2 star feeders into it. Or a combination of both. You can see the percentage chance in the upper right hand corner while you put them in to level
I’ve leveled Sonia to level 40 and cannot ascend nor Sonia nor her costume 🙁
Hey there, you need to ascend Sonia before you can ascend her costume.. Might have the wrong tab selected..
level 40 should be the first ascend for an epic hero.