Hey, Heroes, Kolz here!
Today, we're diving into Hero Clash in Heroes vs. Hordes. This is pretty much the only game mode where you actually get to go head-to-head against other heroes.
But here's the catch: it only happens every other week, and you get a tiny, limited amount of tokens. That means reaching those insane stretch goals of getting tokens for Lion Heart, Circuit Breaker, or your favorite hero takes forever.
That said, if you can climb higher in the leagues, and do it faster, you'll hit those breakpoints much sooner. And today, I'm going to show you the heroes that let you do exactly that.
My Hero Clash Philosophy: The Three Buckets
I keep it simple. I only have three buckets for Hero Clash, because honestly? You only need one good hero. If you have one of the good ones, you can cruise all the way to League 11. No joke.
So, I'm going to focus on the S-Tier and A-Tier heroes. All the other "don't bothers" are getting tossed into one giant category. I'll explain why each category exists and give you the real details on the heroes that matter.
I'll even break down the three most important builds you can run. We're talking about heroes that can beat all of Hero Clash with no forge and only three-star levels. And then there are the monsters with a five-star forge that just put this whole mode on farm.
The Secret Sauce: Beating the Cooldown Cap
Listen up, because this is the key. Cooldown and prolonged area-of-effect (AOE) skills are everything in Hero Clash.
Why? Because the cooldown cap is a measly 40%! This means heroes with skills or abilities that aren't reliant on cooldown skills that just stay on the battlefield become ridiculously, absurdly strong in this mode. You'll hear me come back to this again and again.
The "Don't Bother" Pile
Let's get this out of the way first. I'm just gonna throw all these heroes into one giant pile. For the average player, these just aren't it. Maybe at super high star forges and levels they're "fine," but why bother when way better, cheaper options exist?
This is the "please don't use" list:
- Steam Golem (A true, true don't bother)
- Nutcracker, Ink Bot, Living Forge (All basically the same... and not good)
- Echo, Frost Wizard, Spirit Shaman, Chris, Crazy Tinkerer
- Reaper, Leprechaun, Scrollage, Fire Midge, Frost Queen (Haven't seen any strong players use them)
- Sentury Specialist (Takes way too long to ramp)
- Puppeteer (I am not impressed)
- Energy Mage & Pirate Queen
- Arcane Mage (You shouldn't be using him... ever)
- Santa, Rocket Pilot, Gravescraper
- Slim Stage (You should never use)
- Glacial Sentinel, Ronan Blossom, Gladiator (I just don't see it for Hero Clash)
- Bombade & Hoplight (Not fantastic generally)
- Dragon Empress, Void Raven, Bavarian, Dark Ranger, Chicken Little, Blade Master, Big Game Hunter, Circuit Breaker
- Tide Warden, Rose Mother, Monk
- Geo Man, Paladin, Rudmaster
Yeah, it's a big list. Just... trust me. Avoid 'em.
The A-Tier: Strong Heroes That Work
These are your solid contenders. Some need investment, some have weird niches, but they can all get the job done, especially if you've already built them.
The Interesting Cases & Niche Picks
- Shield Warden: An interesting case. You can build him super defensively (I'll cover this later) and just... survive. This gives you a great shot at winning, even against way higher power scores.
- Lion Heart: He's part of the Warriors' Guild, which has great Hero Camp bonuses from heroes like Shield Warden and Knight. This makes everyone in that camp pretty strong in Hero Clash.
- Bunny: One of the top-end damage dealers in the game, period. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a ton of AOE and he is CD capped, so he falls off against other heroes in the later leagues.
- Trapper: I've seen some decent ones. He might be a low A, but I'm throwing him near the "don't bother" line.
- Crystal Mra: At four-star levels, she's very, very strong. But she doesn't have a forge, so her cap is limited. If you happen to have her at four stars, her alt is actually pretty great in this mode.
- Snake Emperor: Does a whole ton of damage. I imagine at higher forges, he's actually pretty good.
- Barbarian: Kinda like a weaker version of Bunny. He's... okay.
- Pumpkin Shade & Plague Keeper: Maybe at high forges they aren't bad? Plague Keeper is like a weaker Snake Emperor.
- Sworm Master: One of the newer heroes, but he's quite strong here if you can get him all forged up. His skills stay on the battlefield for a long time.
- A-Mage: Very strong hero overall. You can combine her shield with her screen-wide AOE. Build her semi-defensively, and she can clear a decent number of opponents, probably topping out around League 9 or 10.
- Assassin: Kind of a weaker version of Bunny, in my opinion.
- Priestess: A high-damage hero that I think will do exceptionally well as you forge her up. She'll take time and investment, but I believe she'll be strong.
The "Sleeper OP"
Warlock: Warlock has been one of the most underrated heroes in this game for a long time. He gets no press on Discord, or Reddit, or even from me! It wasn't until Mosen confirmed it that I realized he's a really, really strong hero. I don't have enough personal experience to know exactly where he stands, but I imagine, like in other modes, he's just "sleeper OP."
The S-Tier: The Gods of Hero Clash
Okay, now for the big guns. These are the heroes that will carry you. If you have one of these, you're set.
Clockwork Mage: The Budget Queen
I've been avoiding her, but let's get to it. Clockwork Mage. This is yet another reason why I think she is one of the best heroes in the game. She is absolutely fantastic at Hero Clash.
She is the hero I personally used with NO FORGE and only THREE-STAR LEVELS to continuously get to League 11. I was clearing out ALL of Hero Clash with an unforged, three-star hero.
I don't know what more you could possibly want in this game mode than that.
Now, I know some people (like Mosen) think Clockwork Mage is totally overrated, and that I'm the one making her overrated. But... she just beats everything. You can't be overrated if you're actually effective. At least, that's my opinion.
Dark Mage: The OP Damage Machine
On the heels of one of the worst heroes (Steam Golem) is... maybe the best hero. Dark Mage. At five-star forge, she does an unbelievable, nonsensical amount of damage. They've been "fixing bugs" in her, and she is still OP.
The trick is her five-star forge (the B-side, the right side). It causes hordes that die to explode, doing additional damage to more horde. Combine that with her skills being AOE and staying on the field... and you have one of the strongest heroes in Hero Clash.
Warlord: The #1 Overall Pick
A hero like Clockwork Mage will let you beat Hero Clash. But a hero like Warlord will let you push for the Number One Overall Ranking in the World.
A five-star forge Warlord at four-star levels can beat any other hero. I have around 500-600 million power, and I can easily beat 1.5 BILLION power heroes using Warlord.
The key is that he gets all his damage from Blood Pools (from his forge) and his skill, Wide Swing. Both are cooldown-independent. In fact, Wide Swing's cooldown is reduced by being hit!
So, you build him tanky. He heals up any damage he takes. This procs Wide Swing even more. He is clearly the best hero that all the top contenders use.
The Other Gods: Necromancer, Oracle, Artificer & The Tanks
These heroes are all monsters in their own right.
- Necromancer: This is where we talk about defensive builds. His minions run on their own internal cooldown system and stay on the field, so he puts out full damage even with the 40% cap. He's a premier hero.
- Oracle: She's great because her orbs stay on the battlefield. She's another one you don't need a forge for! With just three stars, you can start pushing most leagues. With a five-star forge, she just gets stronger.
- Artificer: Much like Oracle, his weapon stays on the battlefield independent of cooldown. He's all about AOE and damage.
- The Tank Trio (Wear Beast, Dark Paladin, Shield Warden): These guys are all very similar. Like most of the Warriors' Guild, they are incredibly tanky. You build them defensive and just... outlast everyone. Dark Paladin, fully forged, is a high-A or low-S hero with his scaling armor and tons of stuns.
How to Build Your Hero: The 3 Key Strategies
Okay, so you have the hero. How do you build them? There are really three main paths.
1. The "Pure Defensive" (Warlord, Necromancer, Shield Warden)
Your goal here isn't to kill fast; it's to get one more kill than your opponent and simply not die. You just outlast them.
- Hero Example: Necromancer or Warlord.
- The Build: You go incredibly defensive and tanky.
- Key Tomes: For Necromancer, his weapon evolves off Lifetome, which you want anyway! There's no loss. Combine that with Armor Tome, and you have incredibly tanky minions that just win the war of attrition. For Warlord, it's the same idea: stack defense, let his forge and Wide Swing do all the work.
2. The "AOE Overload" (Artificer, Oracle, Clockwork Mage)
This build is all about stacking as many non-cooldown, persistent AOE effects as possible. You're looking for anything that stays on the screen.
- Hero Example: Artificer.
- The Build: This revolves around projectile speed and area of effect.
- Key Tomes: Area of Effect Tome is your absolute BIGGEST priority. Damage Tome is next.
- Weapons: You want Bombs and Fire Orbs from the base set.
- Support Tomes: Follow up with Duplicator Tome, Armor Tome, Projectile Speed Tome, or Lifetome. You get a ton of damage and then add tankiness just in case.
By the way, Owl from the Kakery did an amazing deep dive on Clockwork Mage, pushing her limits with special weapons that also don't require cooldown (like Cow Whistle, Dynamite Slingshot, Scrap Hammer, etc.). I'll have that guide on my website. The principle is the same: no cooldown allowed!
3. The "Glass Cannon" (Dark Mage, Bunny)
This is for heroes that just do so much raw damage that they can overcome the cooldown cap. They just melt everything before it becomes a problem.
- Hero Example: Dark Mage.
- The Build: Damage, damage, and more damage. You're relying on her five-star forge to cause chain-reaction explosions.
- Key Tomes: Damage Tome, Duplicator Tome, and anything that amplifies her core skills.
My Final Tier List Summary
So, let's wrap it all up. Here's my final ranking:
S-TIER (The Gods)
- Warlord (The #1): Fully forged, he's the strongest. Period. He puts the mode on farm.
- Clockwork Mage (The Best Budget Pick): The best early-game hero. No forge, 3 stars, and she can clear League 11.
- Dark Mage (The Damage Monster): Just melts everything.
- Necromancer (The Ultimate Defender): The king of the defensive build.
- Artificer & Oracle (The AOE Twins): Great value, don't need insane investment.
- Warlock (The Sleeper): Probably S-Tier, just super underrated.
- The Tank Squad (Wear Beast, Dark Paladin, Shield Warden): All very similar, all win by just not dying.
A-TIER (The Contenders)
- These are heroes with a ton of damage but require at least four-star levels and a five-star forge (like Bunny, Priestess, Sworm Master). They're basically weaker versions of the S-Tier gods.
DON'T BOTHER TIER
- Everyone else. Seriously.
- ...Okay, fine. If you're willing to invest a ton, heroes like Trapper, Gladiator, or Pumpkin Shade might be "not bad." But the S-Tier heroes are what you want.
If you can get these S-Tier heroes, they will push you through Hero Clash and League 11. Then you can be like me and spend six... months... trying... to... get... Circuit Breaker... just to make Sentury Specialist a little bit stronger. Ugh.
About the Author
I'm Kolz, a high-level HVH player. If you want to support this content, you can become a member here on YouTube or on my Patreon for early access and a monthly HVH giveaway. You can even become an executive producer!
Shout out to the executive producers of this video: K Invictus, River Wind, theba, Kabs, Jason, Lady, I, Paradox, Tal, Clinton, BK Ninja, and Sam.
Thank you all for your support. It really means a lot to me. Please subscribe if you like the content!
And remember, always do your adventures.
Hey, Heroes, Kolz here.
Today, I'm gonna be going through the best heroes for Hero Clash in Heroes vs. Words.
Hero Clash is like the only game mode where you actually go head to head against us. Other heroes.
Because it only occurs every other week, and you get a limited amount of tokens, reaching those stretched goals of Lion Heart, Circuit breaker, or forg tokens for your favorite hero, takes a long time .
That said, if you can climb higher in the leagues faster, you'll reach those brake points much sooner.
And so today, I'll go through the heroes that' allow you to do that.
Now, I only have three buckets, for Hero Clash, because most of the time, you only actually want to use, like, one hero.
And if you have one, you can get basically all the way to League 11.
I'll go into detail on the S&A heroes, and I'll just throw all the other don't bothers into one giant category.
But I'll explain why each category exists, and I'll go into more detail into the more important heroes.
I'll also give you some breakdowns on the three most important builds that you can build in Hero Clash.
Some of these heroes can beat all of Hero Clash without a forge and only three star levels.
And then, there are heroes with a five star forge and four star levels that just basically put this on farm mode.
First up is Steam Golem.
He's a true, don't bother.
On the heels of one of the worst heroes, it might actually be the best hero for hero class, and that is Dark Mage.
The Dark Mage at five star Forge does an unbelievable amount of damage.
They've been fixing bugs in her, and she's still OP.
Now, the thing with the Dark Mage to note is that it takes the five star forge B side or the right side, that causes horde that have died to explode doing additional damage to more horde.
Combine that with the fact that her skills are AOE and remain on the battlefield for extended periods of time without the need for cool down ?
And you have one of the strongest heroes in Hero Clash.
Now, coolown and prolonged area of effects are going to be key to Hero Clash.
And so you're going to hear that come up mostly in these best heroes.
Because the coolown cap is only 40%, having heroes with skills or with abilities that aren't reliant on cown make them particularly strong in this game mode.
There's a string of heroes in Nutcracker, Ink Bot, Living Forge that are all basically the same , not very strong in Hero Clash.
Now, maybe a higher star 4 forges and higher star levels, they'd be perfectly fine, but for the average player playing with like a three star hero with maybe a five star forge, they're not very strong.
Shield Warden is an interesting case.
You can build him really defensively, which I'll go over more later , and survive through the whole encounter.
That'll give you a pretty good shot of winning against even higher power score targets.
Echo, Frost Wizard, Spirit, shaman, Chris, Crazy Tinkerer.
These are all examples of people that you probably don't want to be using in Hero Clash.
The interesting thing about Lion Heart is that he's part of the Warrior' Guild, and the Warrior' Guild has great hero camp bonuses. From heroes like SID Warden and Knight, which makes everyone in their camp actually pretty strong in hero Clash.
Next up, I have Oracle.
Oracle is great for hero Clash because of the way that her orbs stay on the battlefield.
She's one of these heroes that you don't need to forge for and only probably need about three stars before you can start pushing most of the leagues in Hero Clash.
Now, with a five star forge she becomes much stronger as that continuous AOE gets much larger and does more damage.
So I always go back to making Oracle a really strong hero because she's so strong in the early game, needing only three star less levels and only partially forged up in order to clear out most of hard mode, and in this case, a lot of hero Clash.
I personally have not seen any strong players play Reaper or Leprechaun, or Scrollage, or Fire Midge, or Frost.
Queen.
Bunny is an interesting case.
Bunny is one of the top end high- end damage dealers in the game.
Unfortunately, he doesn't do a ton of AOE, and he is CD capped.
But he falls off against some other heroes in later leagues.
Sentury specialist takes too long to ramp.
Puppeteer, I have not been all that impressed with in hero class .
Trapper, I've seen some decent ones, so he might be a low A, but I'm gonna throw them and don't bother.
Energy Mage, and that's someone you want to use in Hero Clash.
Neither is Pirate Queen.
Arcane Mage, you shouldn't be using ever.
Crystal Mra is an interesting case at four star levels, she's very, very strong, but she doesn't have a forge, and so her cap is relatively limited.
If you end up having her and you have her at four star levels for whatever reason, she's actually pretty strong because of the way that her alt works in Hero Clash.
Santa, someone you don't want to use in Hero Clash, neither is Rocket Pilot, Gravescraper, Slim stage, you should never use.
Glacial Sentinel, not somebody for Hero Clash, but I've been avoiding her and I'll go right to her now is the Clockwork Mage.
And yet another reason why I think the Clockwork Mage is one one of the best heroes in the game, she's absolutely fantastic at Hero Clash.
She's the one that I used without a Forge at three star levels to continuously get League 11.
That means I was clearing out all of Hero Clash with an unforged three star clockwork Nage.
I don't know what more you can want in this game mode than that.
Now, I know some people like Mosen think that Clockwork Mage is totally overrated, and I'm the one making her totally overrated.
But she just beats everything .
So you can't be overrated if you're actually effective.
At least that's my opinion.
Ronan Blossom, you don't want to worry about.
Snake Emperor actually does a whole ton of damage, and I imagine at higher forges and higher cell levels.
He's actually pretty good in Hero Clash.
Barbarian's kind of like a weaker version of Bunny.
He's okay in Hero Clash.
But then we got Necromancer, and Necromancer is an S tier hero in Hero Clash.
And this is where we can start to talk about defensive builds in detail.
Again, your goal in Hero Clash is essentially to get one kill more than your opponent.
And necromancer will allow you to do that.
You can build incredibly defensive and tanky on him and still win.
The big thing here is that his weapon evolves off of lifet , which is something you want to take in Hero Clash anyway anyway when you're building defensive.
So there's no tome loss there.
You can combine that with armor tome, and you have the makings for incredibly tanky minions that'll just allow you to outlast your opponent.
Because the amminionsions run on their own internal cown system and they remain on the battlefield , he can actually put out the same amount of damage as he would in other game modes, making him one of the premier heroes for this game mode.
Gladiator, I don't see being in Hero Clash.
Bombade and Hoplight are not fantastic heroes generally.
Pumpkin shade may be at high forges and high levels isn't bad.
And same thing with Playkeeper.
He's kind of like a weaker version of the Stank Emperor.
And now we're gonna come up on some highlight heroes.
The first is Artificer.
Artificer, much like the Oracle , has a weapon that remains on the battlefield independent of coolown.
Now, the typical build that I build for somebody like Artificer revolves around projectile speed and area of effect.
Area offfect Tome is actually your biggest priority, followed by damage toome.
You then want to get by bombs and fire orbs, and that's what you want to use from the base set of weapons.
You can follow that up with duplicator toome, armor tome, projectile speed tome, or life toome.
So you get a bunch of damage, and then you can go a little bit tanky in case you get hit.
But you're looking for anything with AOE.
But for someone like Warlord , you're going pure defensive.
A five star Forge Warlord at four star levels can can beat basically any other hero in Hero Clash.
I have like 500 to 600 million power score, and I can easily beat 1.5 billion to 1.6 billion power score heroes using warlords.
The key to the warlord is he gets all of his damage from blood pools from his five star forge.
He combines that with his skill wide swing, to do most of his damage.
And both of those are cooown independent.
They just remain on the battlefield, and in the particular case of wide swing, the cown's actually reduced by being hit .
So, you build him tanky.
He can heal up any damage he does take through his forge, and then proc's wide swing even more, and is clearly the best hero that all the top contenders typically use in Hero Clash.
So a hero like Clockwork Mage will allow you to beat Hero Clash, but a hero like Warlord will let you push for like the number one overall ranking in the world, depending on how into this thing you actually get.
Doing another fast forward here, Dragon Empress is not very very good in Hero Clash.
Neither is Void Raven, Bavarian, Dark Ranger, Chicken Little, Blade Masteraster.
Big Game Hunter, Circuit breaker.
Sworm Master is actually an interesting case in Hero Clash.
One of the newer heroes, he's actually quite strong in Hero Clash, if you can get him all the way forged up.
That'll make a lot of his skills remain on the battlefield for a long period of time, and taking advantage of AOE is a nice combination for pushing hero Clash.
Wear Beast is an interesting case.
Like most of the other heroes in the Warriors Guild, he's incredibly danky, and so you can go for that t tanky build and then supplement it with damage as best you can and just outlast and outsive your opponents.
Now, he's not nearly as strong as some of the other SU heroes, but I think he's somewhere in the low Serio.
Dark Paladin is a very strong hero in hero Clash.
They're going to need him all the way forged up to make him work.
But the fact that he has scaling armor goes with the theme of being incredibly tanky, and then his five starFage just gives him a whole ton of slows and stuns in order to outlast and out damage his opponents.
Now, he's probably not the best hero in Hero Clash, but a high A, lowS ranking, is somewhere where I would thank you could place a well forged up, dark paladin.
Tide Warden is not somebody you're really using in Hero Clash.
Neither is Rose Mother , Monk.
Stormborn, again, probably not worth talking too much about, but I think he could be a low A type hero in hero class.
Geo Man, you're not going to be using in hero Clash.
Neither are you going to be using Paladin or Rudmaster.
Now, these last four are kind of interesting.
A Mage is a very strong hero overall, and the fact that you can combine her shield with hitting all of the horde on the screen with her AOE is not bad.
Again, you can build her semi defensively here, and you should be able to clear out a decent number of opponents in Hero Clash.
Now, I haven't pushed her all that high, so I think she'll probably top out somewhere in the league nine league 10, but if you have her, she's not a bad option for Hero Clash.
Next up is Assassin.
I have him as kind of a weaker version of Bunny.
Next up is Priestess.
Priestess is another high damaged hero that I think will do exceptionally well in Hero Clash as you get her forced up and up higher star levels.
That means, she's going to take some investment and take some time , but I believe that she will be a strong hero Clash hero if you put in that time and investment.
And lastly, there's Warlock.
Warlock has been one of the most underrated heroes in Hero vs. For for a long time.
He doesn't get a whole ton of press and Discord on Reddit, or even by me, and it wasn't until recently where I confirmed from Mosen that he's actually really, really strong hero.
Now, I haven't had enough personal experience to know exactly where he stands, and you don't see him a ton in Hero Clash against other heroes, so I don't have a great feel, but I imagine , like in other gamos, he's just sleeper OP.
Let me now go through my current rankings and see what I like and don't like if I'll move anything around.
I still have Warlord at number one.
I do believe that he's the strongest hero in this game of mode, fully forged with four star levels.
He'll be able to clear out the thing on farm mode.
Clockwork Mage is the best premie early game hero.
You don't need any forge in only three star levels, and as long as you play my strategy correctly, you can beat all of League 11.
Now, I have to let you know that Owl from the Kakery has done this amazing deep dive into the Clockwork Mage and the ancillary special weapons you want to use to really push her limits.
You can combine her with things like highly forged cow whistle , a highly forged dynamite slingshot, scrap hammer, even yo, and potentially even something like Phantom Fang, in order to push her to the next level.
Now, he's got this whole detailed guide on it I'm gonna put on my website, and you'll be able to see all of his interesting weapon combinations, but know that if you have special weapons, you're basically looking for the ones that don't require cool down.
Next up is Dark Mage, who just does so much damage in this game though it doesn't make any sense .
Necrom I like for his ultimate defenses, Artificer, Oracle, and Warlock are all very similar heroes, where you can beat most of Hero Clash with like three star levels and some level of Forge, so not quite as good as Clockwork Mage, but but you don't also need to invest in them crazily like you do for Warlord or Dark Mage.
Next up is Wear Beasts and Dark Balladin, these guys are very defensive, but that combination allows them to outlast other heroes.
And you know what?
I think I'll put Shield Warden up here too.
These are all very similar heroes with very similar play styles.
Next up in the A group is basically heroes that have a whole ton of damage, but require at least four star levels and a five star forge.
So they are basically weaker versions of Dark A warlord, at least in my head.
And then in the Don't Bother Range, there are probably some stronger heroes.
I feel like trapper is actually not bad for this game mode.
I imagine puppeteer could work if you want to make him work.
Somebody like Gladiator and any of the new adventure heroes with four star levels and a five star forage are not bad, I've been pleasantly surprised by Pumpkin Shade's new damage levels.
Again, if you're willing to invest a whole ton into him.
And the Ser Heroes, if you can get these guys , they will push you through Hero Clash and through League 11.
So, like me, you can spend like six months trying to get circuit breaker, just to make century specialists a little bit stronger.
And I'm Cole', a high level HVH player.
You can become a member here on YouTube or on my Patreon for early access to content and for a monthly HVH giveaway.
You can also become an executive producer.
The executive producers of this video are K Invictus, River Wind, theba, Kabs, Jason.
Lady, I, Paradox, Tal, Clinton, BK Ninja, and Sam.
Thank you, everyone, for your support.
Really means a lot to me.
Please subscribe if you like the content.
And remember, always do your adventures.