M.T.M. on How to Read Hero Cards
So You Want to Read a Hero?
Come on, Quest for Glory? Anyone? Whatever. It’s Monday, I’m M.T.M., and that means I can call this article whatever I want.
This week, we’re going to be covering how to read Hero Cards. No, not in a game manual “The Name is the name of the Hero” sort of way, I mean *really* read them. They pack in a lot more information than you’d think, and knowing what to look for is important to building your decks or evaluating what Heroes you want to chase. There are also lots of confusing or amusing bits that are worth pointing out, and some tricks you can use to infer information that isn’t directly stated.
This is going to be a long one, so without further ado, let’s get out a sample Hero and get started.

Frames and Faces
First thing to notice, Solus has the classic Generation 1 / 2 frame, as opposed to the newer Generation 3 frame. Generation doesn’t technically do anything on its own, but is usually associated with a ton of mechanics changes like Empowered Affinity, using Skill Points instead of Intensity, and so on. I say “usually” because, as with most everything we’ll be covering, there are exceptions.

PWR: PWR (“Power”) is used for setting a Hero’s stats as a GvG defender, and is equal to ATK/3 + RCV + HP/5 (x1.5 for Wardens, x2.5 for Ascended Wardens). It doesn’t do anything else on its own, and while newer Heroes will tend to have higher stats (and thus PWR) this doesn’t mean they will make for the best deck.
Name: Names mostly remain constant, except for adding “Reforged” or “Ascended” when…well…Reforged or Ascended. In the earliest days of Legendary, Heroes had different names at different Rarities (by which I mean numbers of stars, we’ll get to that), but since March 2017 that has been used precisely once, for a pretty nerdy joke.

Types: The first Type listed is the “Class,” which determines stat allocation and the Class Catalyst for evolving Main Heroes and Wardens, as well as being the Target for a few very old Leadership Skills. This is followed by 0–2 “Species Types” (overwhelmingly one) that are mostly used as a Target for various effects (for example, a Relic might require a Dragon-type Hero on your team). Since late 2018 a Hero’s Species Type will usually determine the third Catalyst needed by Mains and Wardens, but exceptions to this rule are much more common than they are for Class Catalysts.

Awakening: You can’t use Wisps to Awaken Legends, and it doesn’t matter if you level up or Ascend a Hero before Awakening (just don’t Awaken a Hero if you plan to Evolve later, it will reset it). Okay, that should cover about 99% of Awakening questions.
Skills: Originally this spot was used for symbols representing the Leader Skill and Battle Skill. These are very nearly always covered up by symbols for Event Skills and their Multiplier, though. Which is just as well, Battle Skills have become so much more complex over the years they don’t easily fall into categories like “leaf” or “sword”…er…healing and damage.
Stats: Like I mentioned above, the distribution of these is based on the Class Type of a Hero. There is a common misconception that these influence the stats of Heroes when used as GvG defenders, but that is just PWR. So, don’t bother looking for high ATK or high HP Heroes for your defense lineups, it won’t make any difference.
Rarity: In Legendary, “Rarity” always means “number of stars,” not “how rare something is.” This is pretty confusing given we also have Ultra Rare Heroes, and the Legendary player community basically never uses Rarity this way (there is a decent chance you’ll confuse people if you try). However, it is very important to know for the in-game sorting, as well as what it means if the news feed talks about “higher Rarity” (more stars, not more rare).
Card Backs
The front of a Hero is a good overview, but the meat of its abilities are on the card back. I wanted to do another little picture with numbers, but Card Backs are so extensive that doesn’t really work. Even scrolling down, there is too much here to go one-by-one, so we’ll be going section by section.
Flavor Text: Read your Flavor Text, someone worked hard on that! This first section is also occasionally used for additional information about the Hero, or for a shout-out to a player or guild that earned the right to have their name on the card through during an Event or Season or the like.
Skills: After a perfunctory explanation of the Hero’s Event Skills this section launches into the Battle Skill, any Passive Skills, and a wide range of other things like Killer, Ultimate Gem, and Empowered. No little quips or anecdotes this time, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to carefully read and understand this section. I know it can be long, dense, and technical, but the vast majority of most Hero’s strength is contained in these abilities, they often have very small but very important distinctions, and evaluating it correctly makes all the difference when trying to read and understand Heroes in Legendary.
Defender Skill & Counter Skill: Defender and Counter Skill are usually equal to a Hero’s Rarity, with Wardens gaining +3. A Warden’s Defender Skill determines which Bastion it uses to Ascend (please consult handy dandy chart below). Very rarely, Heroes will have a higher Counter Skill level or Counter multiple Skills, which can be particularly valuable.

What They Won’t Tell You.
Even if you read them thoroughly, Heroes will only voluntarily tell you so much. A part of my eternal quest for truth, knowledge, and spoilers, I’ve figured out a few tricks to help extract a bit more information. Most of these are too complicated or esoteric to bother explaining, but one that is easy to use is figuring out a Hero’s Deck Slot and minimum Rarity by looking at their Leader Skill.
Ever since late Generation 1, Support and Ultra Rare Heroes start at 3★ and have “Affinity + Type + Might” Leadership, such as “Light Creature Might VI.” Type was replaced by Event Skill in Generation 3, for example “Light Slayer Might VI,” and Ultra Rares stopped having versions below 6★. On the other hand, Main Heroes begin at 4★ and have “Guild” (GvG-only) versions of this Leadership, but that system didn’t start until early in Generation 2 so many have weird, early Generation 1 style Leadership instead (like a 300% RCV bonus to Magitech on an Honored Hero). Wardens still have those weird, old forms of Leadership, but you probably won’t need to look at it to figure out which ones they are (hint: they have the Warden Event Skill). Oh, and they all start at 4★, with only a handful of exceptions.
Exceptional Knowledge
In all of the above, there are exceptions. Even in cases where there aren’t *currently* exceptions, there very well *were* exceptions or there *could* be exceptions in the future. Making too many assumptions instead of reading carefully can lead to frustrating gameplay and wasted resources, but even the most careful eye that catches every fine distinction won’t be able to explain everything. That is why asking questions is important, and thankfully there are lots of fellow players eager to help on that front.
Feel free to leave any questions you have in the comments, but also be sure to check out the Questions section and chats like DECK BLDR over on the N3TWORK app if you get a chance!
