Read this before touching Hero Gear Guide — understanding how heroes are used is the foundation for every gear/event decision.
The Core Concept: Main March vs Everything Else
Before doing anything with hero gear, figure out your main march — your top 3 heroes, the ones you actually use in fights. This matters because:
- Hero Gear only counts when you're the rally leader. If you join someone else's rally, your gear does nothing for that rally.
- Only your main march matters in most big events: Bear Hunt, Castle Battle (Kingdom vs Kingdom (KvK)), Alliance Championship, Sanctuaries, All Out.
- Once you've picked your main 3, reset gear off every other hero. Don't spread resources across 5+ heroes — 3 strong (ideally Red) gear sets beats 5 weak ones.
- If you already put gear on heroes outside your main march, reforge it — this converts it into Enhancement XP and Forgehammers instead of wasting it.
Hero Roles by Context
| Context | What matters |
|---|---|
| Rally leader (Bear Hunt, KvK rallies) | Hero Gear on your top 3 + their skills — this is your biggest investment target |
| Rally joiner | Troops brought (based on hero level/XP, not stars) + only the first expedition skill of your first-slot hero has a chance to trigger as a bonus rally skill. Gear on joiner heroes does basically nothing. |
| Garrison | Upgraded skills matter more than gear for garrison heroes — check with officers on which heroes your alliance wants garrisoning |
| Arena / Conquest (5-hero teams) | All 5 heroes' power is added together, so there's more reason to gear multiple heroes here — but 3 well-geared (even Red) heroes still generally outperforms 5 undergeared ones |
| Expedition / World Map | Governor Gear + Charms apply here (not Hero Gear) |
Building Your Main 3 — General Guidance
- Early game, a commonly recommended starter trio is a mix of Infantry/Cavalry/Archer specialists so your march covers all troop types.
- As you unlock stronger heroes in later generations, transfer gear from your old main 3 to the new ones rather than starting gear investment from scratch.
- Don't rush to replace a maxed 5-star hero with a fresh 3-star "better" hero — a 5-star hero of an "older" pick usually still outperforms a low-star new pick. Level the replacement up first, then swap.
Picking Roles for Specific Heroes
Some heroes are known "joiner specialists" (their value is in a passive skill useful even at low investment) rather than rally-leader material — check each hero's specific writeup in the generation notes for this kind of role note.