How To Choose The Best Rewards In Heroes vs Hordes

Dragon Tower Rewards

I'm going to start with Dragon Tower rewards because this shop provides the perfect mental model for figuring out the priority between different items in an exchange. However, it also has a unique priority, so while the mental model generally holds, this is a case where it doesn't. You'll need to make this decision for yourself, which is part of the fun.

The big rewards introduced in the Dragon Tower are the option to get the Minotaur hero or the Bulwark weapon. You have the option of a chase hero or a chase weapon, followed by hero shards for each of the special heroes or forge tokens for the Minotaur and the Bulwark.

Typically, the priority order for the hardest items to get in Heroes vs. Hordes is as follows: Heroes, then Weapons, then Forge Tokens, and finally Hero Shards. After that, items like Energy are very high-value, and Spellbooks can also be a good buy, in addition to Jewels, which are available in some other event shops.

Now, that's the mental model. But the unique thing in the Dragon Tower is that I bought the weapon before the hero. In my opinion, the best thing you can get in the Dragon Tower is the Bulwark. After playtesting both the weapon and the hero on my maxed-out account, I've found that the Minotaur is relatively lacking compared to the power of the Bulwark. I consider the Bulwark to be one of the top two weapons in the game, which is why I recommend getting it over the Minotaur first.

I found the Minotaur to be so lacking that I plan to buy Bulwark forge tokens before getting him and work on getting the Bulwark up to at least a three-star forge. I might not even grab Minotaur at all, because I'm not going to use him that much. Instead, I find the hero shards for special faction heroes more valuable. Hero shards for special heroes are really hard to come by, and this is one of the places you can consistently get them. For this reason, I would consider getting hero shards for your favorite heroes over getting Minotaur.

I know that sounds kind of lame, but after using Minotaur, I don't value him that much. This is a good example of how you still have to think through your own decisions, even if my rule of thumb generally holds.

Boss Brawl Rewards

Next up is Boss Brawl, which is my favorite game mode. While you can't see it in my shop, the top priority for your Boss Brawl rewards is the Big Game Hunter. The Big Game Hunter is a hero specific to Boss Brawl. He's great in that game mode and is also a lot of fun to play. As you clear out seasons in Boss Brawl, I would save your exchange tokens first to get the hero.

After that, in my opinion, the next best thing you can get here is hero shards for your favorite hero, like your main hero or any hero with really strong globals.

I would not recommend getting Hero Orbs or Runestones. Those are both things you can farm elsewhere, so I never recommend you buy them in the Boss Brawl shop.

Guild Shop Rewards

The Guild Shop offers access to the Paladin, which is a great early-game hero. If you're free-to-play, saving up for the Paladin as one of your first buys is always a good idea.

That said, the unique thing about the Guild Shop is access to Ultimate Charge and Ultimate Duration jewels. In my opinion, it is worth grabbing those first, up to maybe level three each. At that point, you can switch over to grinding for the Paladin.

The Paladin is going to take you a while, but he's a good hero and synergizes well with the other free-to-play heroes, like Knight and Blademaster. After you grab Paladin, if you really like the hero, you could invest in his hero shards to get him to a higher level. Hero shards can be hard to come by early in the game, and this is a good way to grab some.

However, I invested in Holy Hammer tokens. I did that because the Paladin's three-star forge is incredibly strong. After grabbing those level-three Ultimate Duration and Ultimate Charge jewels, and then the Paladin, I went back and only focused on Ultimate Duration and Ultimate Charge until I got both up to about level seven or eight.

Once your Paladin is established, you can start investing here in Hero Orbs and Dust. This shop is a really good source of both, particularly early in the game. This is also why I recommend you get into an active guild so that you can start getting these resources frequently.

Note that you should never buy any of the potions or scrolls. Those are all things you'll just farm elsewhere, and they don't help you that much.

Hero Clash Shop Rewards

Next, we have the unique Hero Clash Shop. The Hero Clash shop takes a while to grind through for all of these tokens, and it offers two chase heroes: Circuit Breaker and Lionheart.

When I originally started the grind, only Lionheart was an option, and I saved up over several months to get him. Now, Lionheart is just another "shelf hero." He doesn't add much, although he does synergize well with other free-to-play heroes like Paladin, Blademaster, and Knight. That said, you'll almost never use him. This presents an interesting conundrum where, even though the priority is usually heroes, in this instance, I think the forge tokens take priority.

I suggest that early in the game, you use the Hero Clash shop primarily for farming forge tokens for your main hero. Following that, focus on any special weapons that you really want to use, like the Borer, Scraphammer, or Dynamite Slingshot.

The Clash Exchange also offers hero shards for Circuit Breaker and Lionheart, which you could use to level them up if you grab them. I would not spend any currency here on Hero Orbs, Dust, or Keys, as you can farm those elsewhere.

As you can see, I am now saving up for Circuit Breaker. Again, this is for the late-game and because I'm a collector. I've played with this hero on my maxed-out account, and I don't think he's particularly great, so don't worry if you don't want to save up. However, if you've got to catch 'em all, he's one you'll need to catch.

Special Event Rewards

This brings me to the last set of rewards: the ones from special events that occur each week. This is a good example of how to prioritize rewards. This event offers Geomancer as a hero, Borer and Lantern as weapons, forge tokens for Borer and Lantern, and hero shards for the Geomancer, followed by all the standard rewards in an event shop.

Typically, in these events, I recommend getting the hero. In this instance, the Borer is probably the single best weapon in the game, so if you have the option between Borer or Geomancer, I would choose Borer.

In most other instances, like if it was just Lantern versus Geomancer, I would say take Geomancer over Lantern. Heroes can be a lot of fun to play, as is the case with Geomancer, and long-term, they should have more value as they are harder to get.

I value forge tokens as the next highest priority. In this instance, if you don't have the Mighty Borer at a five-star forge, that would be a great buy. Lantern tokens to get it up to its three-star forge are also a good choice.

Finally, I would buy Geomancer Hero Shards. You have to look at the hero and understand their global abilities. Because Geomancer doesn't have a forge and has mediocre globals, getting him to higher star levels isn't that important right now. If they release a forge for him in the future, these could be incredibly valuable, but they haven't yet, and it's been over a year, so it's probably not coming anytime soon.

Now, let's consider the scenario where you didn't get enough currency for a weapon or a hero, or maybe you already have all of them. In this case, you're limited to the other items in the reward shop. The best thing you can typically get are jewels. A level-five Vulnerability jewel is the best thing you can possibly get, followed by Projectile, Attack Power, and Movement Speed jewels, or others like Weakness, Cooldown Reduction, and Critical Strike. Getting a level-five jewel is hard to do just by crafting with dust, so that's a really good buy that will help you as you progress.

After that, another great buy for a great value is Energy, assuming you can use it. Because of the rewards you get at the end of a run, you'll net a whole lot more resources if you can spend the energy. If, for whatever reason, you have any currency left over, Hero Orbs are a really good event purchase. Enchanted Eggs are also great if they're offered, but they aren't available that much anymore.

Skillbook Cores and Ultimate Skillbooks can also be very hard to come by outside of the Dragon Tower, so they can be a good buy in an event. I typically would not recommend buying any pet resources, as you can grab them through pet expeditions, and there are harder things to grind for in the game.

That's how I decide which weapons or heroes to get from any particular event. Again, the general priority is heroes, then weapons, forge tokens, hero shards, and then items like jewels, skillbooks, hero orbs, and whatever other resource you need.

This way, you can stop asking on Discord every time what the best thing to get from an event.