A newer gold hero can make your march stronger and still be the wrong hero to put first when joining Bear Hunt. A defensive exclusive skill can be excellent for holding a building but contribute nothing to an attacking rally. Before spending shards in Kingshot, decide which job you need the hero to perform.
This Kingshot hero tier list separates investment priorities for rally captains, garrison leaders, and Bear Hunt joiners across Generations 1–8. Start with your kingdom's available heroes and the troop slot you need to improve. The grades describe spending priorities for those roles; Gen 8 remains a provisional comparison, not a proven replacement order.
Kingshot hero priorities by generation
S priority means a strong first investment for the stated role; A priority means an upgrade to consider when it fills a real gap. Neither grade means you should replace a finished hero with an underbuilt recruit. A rally captain needs a developed three-hero Expedition lineup, while a Bear joiner is buying a much narrower contribution.
| Generation | First investment to consider | Specialist alternatives | When to hold resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen 1 | S for budget Bear joiners: Chenko, Amane, and Yeonwoo. Develop accessible heroes for your main march. | A for funded rally captains: Amadeus, with sufficient stars, skills, and exclusive gear. | Do not start an expensive Amadeus project solely to obtain a Bear joiner. |
| Gen 2 | S for a budget infantry upgrade: Zoe through Hero Roulette. | A: Marlin for an offensive archer slot; Hilde for a developed cavalry option and useful joiner support. | Stop spreading general shards across all three if none will reach useful skill levels. |
| Gen 3 | S for a budget cavalry upgrade: Petra through Hero Roulette. | A for garrison investment: Eric or Jaeger, depending on the slot that needs replacing. | A healthy infantry or archer slot does not need replacing merely to complete the generation. |
| Gen 4 | S when your archer slot is aging: Rosa through Hero Roulette. | A: Alcar for an infantry upgrade; Margot for cavalry development and an additional Bear joiner. | Margot is a lower priority if existing joiners already cover every march you can fill. |
| Gen 5 | S for budget infantry progression: Long Fei through Hero Roulette. | A: Thrud for an offensive cavalry slot; Vivian for her offensive Expedition kit and joiner utility. | Do not replace a proven Bear captain lineup with Long Fei without comparing results. |
| Gen 6 | A for a budget cavalry upgrade: Sophia through Hero Roulette. | S for a funded offensive archer upgrade: Yang. A for infantry and garrison development: Triton. | Sophia is not compulsory if cavalry is already strong. Yang needs a realistic shard plan beyond unlocking him. |
| Gen 7 | A for budget archer progression: Wee & Woo through Hero Roulette, if that slot needs work. | A for specialist investment: Ava for offensive cavalry; Charles for an infantry garrison slot. | A developed Vivian or Yang reduces the urgency of another archer. A developed Triton reduces the urgency of Charles. |
| Gen 8 | Provisional: Diego is the Roulette infantry option. | Luna offers an offensive archer kit; Liz offers cavalry damage, Health, and defender support. | No blanket S grade. Keep a finished Yang or recent infantry hero until a comparable build demonstrates a worthwhile improvement in your intended mode. |
The roulette route is useful because saved gems give you a practical way to develop a hero over repeated events. It does not make every roulette hero mandatory. Check your live event's selected hero and rewards before spending; a server-age estimate from another kingdom is not a reliable purchase deadline.
Read the right skills before trusting a tier list
Conquest and Expedition are separate combat systems. Arena performance depends on the hero combat kit: targeting, control, healing, and team interaction. Troop battles use Expedition skills and troop bonuses. A spectacular Arena ability is not evidence that the same hero has an exceptional rally buff.
Zoe is a useful example. Her heal that restores up to 40% of maximum Health below 50% Health belongs to Agony Rush, a Conquest skill. Her Expedition kit instead includes squad Attack and damage effects, while her exclusive Expedition skill supports Defender Squad Attack. Build her as an accessible infantry upgrade, not because your entire garrison supposedly receives her Arena self-heal.
Petra's random Change of Fate damage is also a Conquest ability. Her Expedition contribution comes from a different set of skills, including chance-based damage amplification, and her exclusive Expedition skill boosts Rally Squad Attack. Sending four Petra joiners does not import four copies of Change of Fate into a troop battle.
Exclusive gear matters, but its label is not the whole hero
Read the activation condition on the exclusive Expedition skill. A bonus to Rally Squad Attack or Lethality supports an attacking captain; a Defender Squad bonus supports defense. Keep that conditional skill separate from the gear's listed attribute bonuses and its Conquest effect. Saying that every part of a widget disappears in solo combat is too broad.
Rosa has a Rally Squad Lethality exclusive skill, despite often being discussed mainly for Arena. Vivian has a Defender Squad Defense exclusive skill, despite an offensive Expedition kit. Those examples are why I would compare the complete march before rejecting a hero over one gear effect. For solo attacks, compare the applicable Expedition skills and troop attributes without counting a rally-only activation.
Which rally and garrison upgrades are worth the cost?
Early kingdoms: finish a usable march first
Amadeus offers squad Lethality, squad Attack, a chance-based damage increase, and a Rally Attack exclusive skill. That makes an already-developed Amadeus worth comparing against later infantry heroes, especially for Bear captain duty. It does not make him a permanent winner, and he is not the only infantry hero with an offensive exclusive skill: Helga has a Rally Troops Lethality effect.
For budget accounts, Zoe followed by Petra is a practical way to improve two different troop slots. Marlin is worth considering when your archer slot is weak and you can develop him beyond the unlock. If you mostly join a stronger player's rallies, spending heavily to imitate that player's captain lineup is a poor use of scarce general shards.
Petra illustrates why an upgrade can take time to pay off. In one player account, a four-star Petra without widget upgrades initially lost to a five-star Jabel with a +3 widget in Bear Hunt. The same player later revised that assessment after investing in Petra's widget. That is a useful warning about comparing unfinished builds, not proof that every Petra needs a particular widget level or delivers a fixed damage increase.
Eric's Expedition kit reduces enemy Attack and incoming damage while increasing squad Health. Jaeger provides defensive utility and a Defender Squad Health exclusive skill. They are legitimate garrison candidates, but a player saving toward a later infantry or archer upgrade does not need both. Let the slot you actually use decide.
Gen 4–5: avoid turning every upgrade into a full rebuild
Rosa gives a budget account an archer upgrade with an offensive exclusive skill. Her Conquest cleanse and temporary debuff immunity also give her an Arena role, although that does not guarantee a win against every control team. Margot fills a different need: cavalry development, a defender-oriented exclusive skill, and a first Expedition skill that supplies a straightforward Attack buff when selected as a joiner.
Alcar deserves a comparison with Zoe in Bear captain lineups if you already own both at useful development. Several players report higher damage with Alcar, and his Expedition kit supports cavalry and archer damage. Community mechanics analysis also reports that Zoe's delayed Sundering Wound does not deliver its expected value against the bear. That interaction is a community finding, not a confirmed patch note, and the available player comparisons do not establish a universal damage advantage.
One report of a large Alcar improvement used Petra and Rosa with a 3/7/90 formation, but the author acknowledged testing the heroes on different days. Do not turn that result into an upgrade percentage. If Alcar is already built, compare him with Zoe; if buying him would consume the shards reserved for an imminent upgrade elsewhere, a possible Bear gain alone does not settle the purchase.
Long Fei is an accessible next infantry project through Roulette, especially when Zoe is falling behind in PvP. His first Expedition skill is defensive, so that investment does not automatically improve your Bear joiner preset. Thrud is an offensive cavalry option with a rally Lethality exclusive skill. Her value should be compared with your developed Petra, rather than judged by generation alone.
Vivian's first Expedition skill increases enemy damage taken, reaching 25% at level 5. Community mechanics analysis also treats it as a useful joiner damage effect; she should not be dismissed simply because its wording describes a debuff. Her defensive exclusive skill still matters when assessing her as a captain. Also remember that Vivian and Yang are both archers: they compete for the same slot in a three-hero troop march.
For an account entering Gen 5 with a finished Rosa, Vivian is an optional project rather than a compulsory bridge to Yang. Spend if she fills an immediate march or Arena need you can afford to develop. If her only purpose is another Bear first-slot hero, first check whether you have troops for another simultaneous march and whether that skill would enter the rally's four selected contributions. A spare Mythic portrait is not enough return for several hundred general shards.
Gen 6–8: acquisition and role pull the rankings apart
Sophia is the Gen 6 Roulette hero; Yang is not. Yang has an offensive Expedition kit and a Rally Squad Lethality exclusive skill, making him a serious archer project for an account that can finish him. Plan around the shard sources actually available in your kingdom, including governor events and the Swordland shop, rather than expecting Roulette to supply him. Calling him the automatic F2P choice ignores that funding difference.
Sophia's accessible shards can make her a more achievable cavalry upgrade. Her defensive first Expedition skill is not a reason to put her first in a Bear joining march. Triton, meanwhile, has squad skill-damage support and troop Health bonuses alongside a defensive exclusive skill. That supports a garrison role, but does not prove he can never outperform an older infantry hero when attacking.
In Gen 7, Ava is the offensive cavalry candidate: her Expedition kit combines enemy Defense reduction, periodic damage amplification, and squad Lethality, with a rally Lethality exclusive skill. Charles is the more direct infantry defense project, combining enemy Lethality reduction, damage reduction, and squad Health. His health-restoration gear effect belongs to hero combat; the garrison case rests on his Expedition kit and defender Health bonus.
Wee & Woo are the accessible archer project through Roulette. Their first Expedition skill provides both Attack and Lethality, giving them a second job as a Bear joiner once the skill is developed. Their defender-oriented exclusive skill means they are not automatically the strongest offensive archer at equal investment. They can still be the best purchase for an account that cannot afford the alternative.
A Gen 7 spending discussion shows the danger of buying before identifying the gap: its author already had a maxed Vivian with a +10 widget and had paid to bring Charles to four stars before asking whether the upgrades were needed. Recommendations for Ava, Charles, and Wee & Woo then diverged with the player's role. A garrison specialist can justify Charles; a regular joiner with developed infantry has a weaker reason to replace that slot immediately.
Gen 8 adds Diego, Liz, and Luna. Diego is the infantry Roulette option, with a defensive first Expedition skill and a defender Defense exclusive skill. Luna has an Attack-buff first skill, archer damage support, and a rally Attack exclusive skill. Liz combines cavalry damage and squad Health with a defender Lethality exclusive skill. These establish plausible roles, not a measured replacement order.
For a finished Yang versus a new Luna, keep the shards until you can compare the complete proposed build. Player discussion still contains conflicting predictions without enough matched battle reports to settle that purchase. Likewise, do not assume Diego improves an archer-heavy Bear lineup solely because his infantry attributes are newer. Buying a PvP infantry upgrade and replacing your Bear infantry are separate decisions.
Best Bear Hunt joiners: skill selection comes before rarity
When joining another player's rally, the hero in your first slot supplies the first Expedition skill that can be selected as a rally contribution. The rally accepts up to four such contributions across its joiners; it does not take the entire skill kit from every player. Higher skill levels matter, with join order relevant when competing skills are tied. Coordinate the intended contributors and inspect the rally's selected skills before departure.
For a dependable starting pool, prioritize the heroes below. Percentages refer to level 5 first Expedition skills, not the value of a newly unlocked hero. The table rates the job of contributing a Bear joiner skill, not leading the rally.
| Priority | Hero | First-skill contribution | Practical investment decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| S: budget core | Chenko / Yeonwoo | 25% squad Lethality. | Develop these accessible alternatives before buying a premium hero for the same basic job. |
| S: budget core | Amane | 25% squad Attack. | Useful alongside Lethality contributors when organizing the rally's selected skills. |
| S when already developed | Amadeus | 25% squad Lethality. | Use him if available; his other skills and rally widget are not extra joiner contributions. |
| A: expand your march pool | Margot | 25% squad Attack. | Valuable when you need another suitable first-slot hero for simultaneous marches. |
| A: damage-support option | Vivian | 25% increased enemy damage taken. | Community analysis supports joiner use. Do not assume different wording guarantees a separate stacking category. |
| A: dual-purpose Gen 7 option | Wee & Woo | 15% squad Attack and 10% squad Lethality. | More attractive when you also need an archer upgrade. Existing joiners may already cover your available marches. |
| A: additional options | Hilde / Luna | Hilde: 15% Attack plus a defensive effect. Luna: 25% Attack. | Hilde can fill a spare march; Luna adds a clean Attack option in Gen 8. Neither is a mandatory purchase solely for joining. |
Do not turn this shortlist into a rule that every unlisted hero has zero effect. Ava's enemy Defense reduction is an offensive effect, and chance-based skills need their own evaluation. The list favors straightforward, practical investments; it is not an exhaustive claim about every interaction with the bear.
Community testing distinguishes between effect categories when evaluating stacking. Several differently named heroes can share a category, so four different portraits do not necessarily produce four independent multipliers. Likewise, putting Chenko, Amane, and Margot together in your own joining march does not contribute all three first skills. Coordinate those contributions across separate players' first-slot heroes.
Your personal Bear score also depends on the rally you join and the troops you send. Community battle analysis describes the captain's stats and selected hero effects as the shared basis, with each joiner's troop contribution affecting their result. Before spending more shards, compare rallies with similar troop counts and check whether you are consistently reaching the stronger captains. Avoid changing troop mix and hero assignments at the same time if you want an interpretable comparison.
Save separate Bear presets before the event, with the intended contributor in the first slot, and use the rally star feature to find your preferred captains quickly. If the right four skills are already selected, follow your alliance's joining instructions rather than adding a max-level defensive first skill. A hero-free march can avoid supplying the wrong skill, but check the troop capacity you would lose before making it your default.
Check a replacement without confusing buffs with hero strength
For your own rally, alternate the old and new hero during the same Bear event while holding equipment, troop tiers, troop counts, formation, and selected joiner skills as steady as possible. Record pet, city, minister, and other temporary buffs, plus widget and skill levels. Compare several rallies per setup rather than the single highest hit; chance-based skills and changing participants can still prevent a clean result.
Keep the first comparison at the same formation to isolate the hero change, then separately test formations suited to each hero. A long-term F2P player explicitly noted that their impressive Bear screenshots included leftover 20% Attack and Lethality buffs. That is why a screenshot from a stronger account cannot tell you how much your own hero swap will gain.
Where F2P and low-spending accounts should stop investing
I would usually aim for four stars and the relevant level 5 skills before deciding whether a hero deserves the much larger final push. That is a practical stopping point, not a rule to abandon every hero at four stars. A main captain hero can justify more investment; a Bear joiner with its required first skill already maxed often has a different priority.
From a newly unlocked hero, the first four complete stars cost 465 shards in total; counting the initial 10-shard unlock makes that 475. Moving from exactly four stars to five costs another 600. If you have already advanced through part of the fifth star, subtract that progress. This is why finishing a new four-star option can cost less than completing one existing hero's final star, although the better use still depends on which hero you actually need.
| Resource | Spend when | Save when |
|---|---|---|
| Gems | The live Roulette target replaces an aging troop slot and your event budget reaches a useful reward milestone. | The available hero duplicates a strong slot or you cannot reach the milestone you planned. Check current rewards before committing. |
| General Mythic shards | A selected hero can reach a meaningful star or skill breakpoint, with a clear place in your march. | You are only unlocking several speculative projects, or the next planned hero addresses a larger weakness. |
| Exclusive-gear materials | The hero regularly leads your relevant march or serves an important Conquest role, and the next upgrade improves that job. | The only reason is to improve a first-skill contribution while joining somebody else's rally. |
For a low spender, finishing one planned upgrade is generally more useful than buying small shard bundles for the whole generation. Price the route to the target breakpoint before purchasing the unlock. For a designated alliance captain, make the same calculation across all three troop slots and your account's troop bonuses; a hero purchase alone does not establish a strong rally account.
Petra at four stars: keep spinning or spend general shards?
Those are different decisions. Community advice often favors developing Petra through later Roulette appearances while reserving general Mythic shards for a hero without that route. I would continue gem-funded progress when she remains a main cavalry project and the next reward milestone fits the budget. I would pause a large general-shard push if her important skills are already level 5 and it would leave the next planned archer upgrade unfinished.
For Roulette, choose a reachable milestone before spinning. The listed 70-spin chest awards 30 hero shards and the 120-spin chest awards 50; these are milestone rewards, separate from random wheel drops. If you can fund 70 but cannot reach 120, stop at the planned chest rather than spending the remaining gems between milestones. Use the ten-spin discount and available Lucky Chips, and confirm the live reward panel before committing. Do not budget on a guaranteed five-star result after a fixed number of events.
Fund widgets on their own schedule. A long-term F2P account reported taking longer than one generation to reach a +8 widget and choosing gems over some Truegold rewards to support hero development. That route sacrifices other progression and depends on event participation and gem income. If your income cannot sustain the same plan, keep using the older developed hero while building the replacement; do not spend general shards merely to imitate the screenshot.
Frequently asked questions
Should a newer three-star hero replace an older five-star hero?
Not automatically. Compare actual Expedition attributes, unlocked skill levels, and applicable exclusive effects with equivalent equipment. For Arena, compare the Conquest lineup separately. A generation advantage cannot tell you whether a partially developed replacement improves your current account.
Should I keep spending on Zoe after Long Fei becomes available?
Keep using Zoe where she still earns her place, but reassess new spending if Long Fei is your next infantry project. Finishing a useful Zoe skill is a different decision from committing a large number of general shards to her fifth star. Her Conquest heal does not establish permanent garrison superiority.
Does joining later mean my Bear hero is useless?
Your troops still contribute even if your first skill is not among the four selected contributions. A later max-level skill also should not be assumed to replace an already selected max-level skill. Check the rally's actual skill selection instead of assuming every eligible hero is active.
Can I use two archers in a three-hero troop march?
No. Build that march with one infantry, one cavalry, and one archer hero. Vivian, Yang, Wee & Woo, and Luna are alternatives for its archer slot. An Arena formation uses a different setup and should be evaluated separately.
Are rare heroes worthless once I own Mythics?
No. Combat replacement does not remove a development hero's economic role. Inspect gathering and development skills before dismissing the hero, and keep spending proportional to that purpose. An economic specialist does not need premium combat investment.
Should I follow a fixed day count for the next generation?
Use your kingdom's announcements and live event roster to confirm availability. Published day counts are planning estimates, and an older kingdom's unlocks do not establish what your server can obtain today. Do not empty your reserves because another server has reached the next generation.
Choose one upgrade before the next event
Open your main troop march and identify its weakest developed slot. Choose one replacement you can realistically finish, record the next useful star and skill breakpoint, and reserve the required resources. Then check your Bear joining presets: put the intended contributor first and confirm its first Expedition skill level. If those presets already work and your planned replacement cannot reach a useful breakpoint yet, keep the shards until it can.
