Part of the Heroes Series:
- Heroes Hub: Hero roles and roster planning.
- Hero Recruitment: Find the materials for your chosen hero.
Quick Answer
For classic heroes, Combat Manuals provide EXP, fragments and matching Hero Badges raise rank, and Hero Skill Books improve skills. Gear and Completion use separate materials. A hero blocked at one step will not necessarily benefit from spending another currency.
Build a useful Infantry/Rider/Hunter core for ordinary marches, then maintain the specialists your activities need. Do not try to form a normal three-hero march from three heroes of the same troop type, or treat a strict four-hero limit as a rule for every account.
Identify the Blocked Upgrade
| Progression | Main input or requirement | What it does not replace |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary level | EXP from Combat Manuals and earned EXP, within the rank/Precinct limit | Rank or skill upgrades |
| Classic rank | Hero-specific fragments plus the required rarity of Hero Badge | Hero EXP |
| Classic skill level | Applicable Hero Skill Books and unlock requirements | All other skills automatically |
| Hero Gear | The equipment system's parts and other materials | Chief Gear or hero rank |
| Completion / Limitless | The exact chips, capsules, potions and prerequisites shown | Ordinary manuals or arbitrary other-generation items |
If the level button is blocked, inspect the rank and Hero Precinct requirement, then Training Area status. More manuals will not bypass a rank cap. If Rank Up is blocked, compare both the fragments and badges; fragments are not the only possible shortage.
Use the Completion and Limitless guide for heroes whose development screen uses that system. Applying the classic currency table to every later-generation upgrade creates the wrong shopping list.
Named Fragments Versus General Fragments
A named fragment belongs to its hero. A general fragment can be exchanged for an eligible owned hero of the matching rarity. Eligibility has exceptions, so inspect the hero's exchange option instead of assuming every legendary accepts general legendary fragments.
Open the hero, select its rank screen and look for the fragment exchange button. Confirm the number required for the intended rank step. Converting extra general fragments in advance sacrifices the ability to direct those extras to another eligible hero later.
Illustration: a rank step needs 40 named fragments and you own 28. If the hero accepts the general fragment you hold, the immediate shortfall is 12. Converting all 100 general fragments in your inventory would commit 88 more than that step needs. Check the next intended steps before accepting that larger conversion.
This also explains why “spreading fragments” needs qualification. Collecting free named fragments for another hero does not consume your main hero's named fragments. The opportunity cost arises when you redirect shared resources, selection crates, general fragments, event currency or money.
Classic Lucky and Becca are documented exceptions to ordinary General Legendary Fragment exchange. Maddie & Frank need their classic and Completion requirements kept separate. For an Epic farming specialist, the Travis event route supplies named fragments without using Legendary materials.
Choose an Upgrade for a Specific Role
Before spending, write the job: leading a rally, joining one, holding a garrison, clearing an Explorer stage or gathering a resource. Then inspect the attribute or skill that helps that job.
For a rally joiner, the relevant contribution can differ from a leader's full formation. Read the rally roles guide before treating the leftmost hero or a particular skill as universally best.
For Explorer content, inspect Explorer skill descriptions and the cause of the failed stage: losing a frontline hero, failing to interrupt a dangerous enemy or running out of damage are different problems. Do not upgrade every hero's first skill merely because it appears first on screen.
A gathering specialist may be useful without receiving the same investment as a combat hero. Training slots can provide relevant level benefits while you concentrate earned EXP on instructors. The Training Area guide explains the remaining rank and skill requirements.
A Practical Upgrade Order
- Choose one currently blocked activity and the hero you will actually use there.
- Inspect the next level, rank, skill and equipment options separately.
- Identify the smallest affordable step that addresses the problem.
- Reserve any shared material required by the rest of your working march.
- Check a nearby eligible event before optional spending.
- Compare performance afterward under similar conditions.
This allows Hero Gear to progress alongside ranks and skills. It does not require every hero to be “finished” before equipment receives materials from its separate supply.
For a free account, scarce general fragments and selection rewards deserve the tightest plan. A spender should price the full useful milestone, not simply the unlock pack. Neither account benefits from paying for an upgrade that does not enter an active formation or solve an account need.
When to Replace an Older Hero
Compare the available replacement at the rank, skills, equipment and Completion development you can actually afford. A fully developed older hero can remain useful, but “finished old hero always beats unfinished new hero” is not a reliable rule across generations and modes.
Do not finish an obsolete investment solely because you already started it. Previously spent materials are a sunk cost; the decision concerns the next materials and the benefit they now purchase.
Use the generation guide for roster context and compare the actual stats and relevant skills. Keep the older hero available for another useful role if appropriate; replacement in one march is not the same as becoming useless everywhere.
Spare Materials and Recycling
Check unused fragments against all remaining eligible development before recycling them. A maxed classic rank does not establish that every related material has no further purpose. The Recycling Center guide shows how to reserve the next planned costs and inspect conversion limits.
Keep choice rewards unopened when their best destination is still uncertain. That preserves flexibility without slowing a specific upgrade you have already chosen.
FAQ
What is the difference between Hero Badges and Combat Manuals? Hero Badges accompany fragments in classic rank upgrades. Combat Manuals provide hero EXP for ordinary levels.
Can general fragments upgrade any legendary hero? No. They apply to eligible owned heroes of the matching rarity, with exceptions. Check the exchange option for the particular hero.
Should I always max the first skill first? No. Read the skill and choose for the activity and rally role. Explorer and military benefits are not interchangeable.
Must I finish my current hero before switching? No. Compare the next investment in each option and their attainable performance. Prior spending does not justify an otherwise poor next upgrade.
Should I stop Hero Gear until all three heroes are maxed? No universal rule requires that. Gear has its own materials and can be developed alongside useful rank and skill upgrades.
Key Takeaways
- Diagnose level, rank, skill, gear and Completion shortages separately.
- Preserve the flexibility of general fragments and choice items until an upgrade is chosen.
- Spend toward a defined role and compare attainable replacements without sunk-cost pressure.