Hero Lock

Hero Lock is a term which is used to describe an intended strategy for invasion, expedition "Elite Invasion" for Exp Books and "Hero invasion" for pass points.

The Devs want to make it so that if you're running what they consider to be "weak heroes" (Known in-game as "Backup Heroes"), they won't show up on the first round to help prevent an early loss due to RNG. This feature allows you to manipulate RNG so you only get the heroes you want on the first round. It only works until three heroes are on the screen; once there are three summoned heroes, fusing or discarding heroes is required to continue using the feature in the current round.

Hero Lock heroes are: **Saeryung, Alberon, Lunaire, Lily, Lyca, Bardey, Asiaq, Mano and Agathe.**

If you need further explanation on what Hero Lock is, King Nob has a **video** posted about it. Or read more at the bottom:

**TLDR** by PotentialDerp

Hero Lock consists of 9 Heroes that cannot be summoned as long as specific conditions are met. These heroes are Alberon, Lily, Lyca, Lunaire, Bardrey, Asiaq, Mano, and Agathe. The conditions are

1. Must be Round 1
2. Must have 2 or less heroes on the screen. (Field and/or Bench)

If it becomes round 2 or you have more than 3 heroes on the screen, the rest of the team can be summoned from that point on. People use this strategy to guarantee only one hero spawns and it gets to a high tier at round 1, making farming and clearing many stages a lot easier.

**What is Hero Lock?**

Hero Lock is a strategy that "abuses" an intended game mechanic to gain an advantage that most should normally not be able to get in a normal, standard game (ie. Chung Ha Tier 5 on round 1). For this reason, many experienced players love this strategy because it trivializes farming stages as a lot of the RNG is effectively removed, making farming more consistent and concise.

**The Mechanic Behind Hero Lock**

This mechanic refers to what many guides call the "certain condition," and these conditions are basically what most stages start with. In round 1 of most stages, you will notice that you have 3 available unit slots, and if you are running Alter of Greed, summoning 3 heroes will ALWAYS put them on the field in the bottom middle 3 slots. Any future summons will summon them on the bench. If you sell any units on the field WHILE IT IS STILL ROUND 1, then any summons will then be summoned on the field as a replacement to the sold unit.

This is where Hero Lock comes in. People have discovered, and has been confirmed by Awesome Piece, that 5 heroes WILL NEVER BE SUMMONED in these 3 field spots ON ROUND 1. These heroes are:

1. Alberon
2. Lunaire
3. Lily
4. Lyca
5. Bardrey
6. Asiaq
7. Mano
8. Agathe
9. Saeryung

This means that if you had infinite silver, as long as you were on round 1 and constantly was selling the summoned units that are on the field, you will never see any of these 5 units. As long as these 3 are the only ones holding units, then the 5 aforementioned heroes will never appear. The moment you summon one onto your bench, or it becomes round 2, the condition is now not met and summoning of the 5 heroes will start. (See this reddit post for a short in game demonstration). With this strategy, you can hit strong carries starting at round 1 and breeze through rounds like nothing. The 5 heroes can all be Level 1 while your main carry is Level 14, and this strategy will still work.

If you do accidentally summon one unit onto your bench, then sell the unit on your bench and combine/sell a unit on your field so there is one summon slot on field left. This then meets the conditions for Hero Lock, and it works again (thanks u/ProfBacterio for correcting me).

**Where Does Hero Lock Work?**

* All Invasion and Corruption Chapters
* Elite Invasion (Expedition)
* Hero Invasion (Expedition)

**Relic**

Mask of Hallucination: Due to its ability to duplicate the hero of the highest tier, you essentially get a free copy of your carry. Can be helpful, but can also be detrimental depending on the other relic and whether or not positioning matters (eg. Scroll of Teleportation + Mask will cause the enemies to target and move towards the duplicate while the main teleports to the back and has to run towards the enemies). Side Note with Mask:For some reason the 3rd slot requirement extends to the bench as the game considers the mask unit not part of the board on round 1, so if you summon and a unit spawned on your bench, the conditions are still met and Hero Lock still works.

**Alternative Uses for the Hero Lock Mechanic**

As many people have both mentioned and used, you don't always have to have all 5. If you have Lily, Lyca, Bardrey, and Alberon but not Lunaire, then having those 4 in a team with 2 side units will cause the game to only summon those 2 units. Definitely not as consistent, but people can still make it work (see Aramis + Shelda/Leonhardt teams).

**Final Words**

Hero Lock is a strategy that many experienced players favor for very good reason. It makes farming trivial, removes a lot of RNG in a game where RNG can make or break a run, and reduces a lot of time needed for grinding. Is it a strategy that I recommend new players focus on getting? Yes and No. I definitely would recommend new players being aware and on the look out for the Hero Lock Units, saving their gems if they can as gems become very limited as you progress. HOWEVER, King God Castle is a game where you can do the same things Hero Lock can do WITHOUT this strategy. If you love Draco, use him. Wanna be part of the Aramis Gang, do so without worry at all. It doesn't matter what the community says, play what you want to play and have fun. All Hero Lock is is just another way to play the game.