FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions & Topics:

Here you will hopefully find a one stop shop of the common Questions and Topics usually asked or searched by visitors. If there is anything you want to see, please comment below and we will do our best to provide a response or create a content.

## TOPICS

### Guides

There are many guides to help you through various parts of the game!:-)

* Must know and starter game guide for basic beginners
* General Strategy for deeper coverage about many topics
* gem income calculations: see Resource\_management, Sources\_of\_gem\_income, and Balancing gems vs. time
	+ related: Purchase cost comparisons - for campaign use, for unlocking worlds, or for tournaments
* buying keys in Realm Siege and Balancing gems vs. time
* more detailed RS Strategy
* Heroes Overview (tier lists for newer players, hero roles, ideal ranks, etc.), or for a given hero their Most\_powerful\_Ranks
* Tournament Strategy: basic, advanced, and the current Meta (more for veterans), or recent blessed heroes.
* Real Money Spending
* guide to the upcoming event
* Battle Mechanics
* Types of damage
* Tappables
* other Guides

### Theory-crafting

* Choosing heroes to invest in to win tournaments
* Winning tournament rewards
* Hero roles (basic), some additional thoughts about individual heroes on the Heroes Overview page - like whether to use Raida as a tank vs. mage - and Hero Categories at R6 redone better
* Battle Ability Mechanism --- A Deep Theorycrafting
* Want to write more? e.g., it'd be great for someone to write things like how to choose heroes to bring to a given type of battle (right now Meta is good for this purpose even if not comprehensive)

## FAQ

### Q. Which hero should I get next?

**Quick TLDR**: There are many routes through the game but here's an example to get you started. Buy a third hero - it hardly matters but Efrigid or Mabyn are popular choices, then Fee to R3, Lancelot to R3, get to W4 and unlock necro-Connie (don't get old-Connie first) (read: How\_to\_get\_Necro\_Connie), then you are set to the end of the campaign. Maybe buy Yan or Narlax for later use in tournaments, or Leif if you are stuck unable to proceed, then when you get to W6 work on either Raida or Koi (it hardly matters which) to R6, then the other one. Alternately, instead of awakening Fee perhaps buy Smoulder to unlock Efrigid's level-2 abilities? Or in addition to or instead of awakening Lancelot buy Helios for a large power boost in W4? There are a ton of paths that work - it's more about avoiding "traps" set for unwary players than anything else.

**Full answer**: It *STRONGLY* depends on where you are & who else you also have. Some heroes offer more of their power right away, while others require additional steps to fully unlock their powers, in addition to awakenings. Perhaps most important is the scalability of each hero's powers to various types of situations: increasing difficulty (in RS) or increasing numbers of enemies (tournaments). See the heroes overview page for a ranking of heroes in the various situations. e.g., Fee is almost unquestionably the top hero for raw utility in the early-worlds of the campaign (especially as you awaken her, e.g. to R3), but her power wanes too quickly to be useful in later worlds or in RS with increasing difficulty (even if you got her all the way to R6, though at R7 she becomes part of the Meta for that game mode). In contrast, Mabyn offers much better utility in that regard, though she too wanes before the end of your campaign (also she doesn't benefit much from awakening, until her later use in tournaments). Efrigid offers an extremely nice balance between everything, and so is a top pick for many people: at R2 she is good, but if you awaken her to R4 she becomes GREAT, and even more so if you also buy Smoulder to unlock both of their upgraded level-2 abilities (not necessary but helpful, and he is a great hero himself). In later worlds her power becomes outright negligible, but unlike Fee she can fall back on her ability to delay enemies and be useful all the way to the end of the game. Though the absolute best hero in the game for mid-campaign scenarios is now necro-Connie, who as she becomes awakened will provide more utility than anyone else. Any of these heroes is individually skippable, and as long as you pay careful attention to the various factors involved (regular campaign levels vs. Legendary & Endless modes, RS, and later utility in tournaments), there are a wide variety of teams that can get you through. At worst, if you get "stuck", you earn almost 3000 gems per month from the Daily Trial (rising 50% to 4.5k if you do +5 difficulty in RS each time), and another ~3k from the Wheel of Prizes, which is altogether ~6k/month, plus you should be spending time awakening your heroes along the way (to unlock worlds, but also for utility) and maybe buying new heroes, so time and effort will soon get you "unstuck".

One thing to also start paying attention to in late game is how a new hero will complement your existing line-up - see also the Hero line-up section of the General Strategy page. Yan for instance is one of the better "support" heroes to aid other heroes (or towers), but if your other two heroes are also merely support (as Efrigid is by late-W4, no longer able to deal much damage as a CC, and Lancelot too, no longer able to tank directly but instead providing fantastic aid to barracks), then her aid will mostly be wasted. A more ideal situation is Tank + CC + Support (see also Glossary), though good tanks aren't available until you either get to W5 or complete necro-Connie's section (or buy Sethos, but his utility is too short-lived to be worth his high cost, at least for F2P). Note that in general it is most efficient to aim to get as far as you can before purchasing a new hero, and try to instead awaken existing ones. That said, new heroes can provide a substantial boost in power, especially if you are "stuck" and cannot seem to make much forward progress with your existing heroes. Ultimately you want to strike a balance of initial utility (including early worlds, Shattered Realms, and early RS), later utility (later worlds, RS that has been powered up by +5 difficulty for awhile, and early tournament wins in lower leagues), and setting you up for tournament progression after you unlock the W6 heroes.

See the Heroes overview, General Strategy, and Tournament Detailed Strategy pages for more information about the various heroes and their usefulness in particular situations.

### Q: What heroes are best for RS? (both normally and for events)

**Quick TLDR**: Connie > Leif > Fee R7 + Connie > Helios > Yan > Raida > Efrigid > Mabyn > Smoulder > Lancelot R3 > Fee R3 - though this is one area where any TLDR answer is laughably too simplistic, e.g. for a long time Raida will outpace the other heroes by far, until the difficulty setting rises to a huge setting (as always happens in events).

**Full answer**: **In early-game**, it doesn't matter quite as much, since towers can do most of your damage (especially when placed on a blessed spot). Possibly the best heroes early on are Efrigid & Connie - both of whom can slow enemies down, to take more advantage of towers - and Masamune & Lancelot who can tank, but avoid heroes such as Hogan, whose damage drops off quickly against heavily-armored enemies. That said, perhaps you may first want to get Fee to at least R3, b/c she is *amazing* in campaign mode and in early RS, with her style of heavy offense killing most enemies before they get too far (and her range is enormous), even though later her utility will drop much faster, as in RS at higher difficulty settings perhaps her only use is in summoning wolves to slow the enemies down slightly, and in catching birds & that get past your anti-air towers). **In mid-game**, heroes like Mabyn, Helios, Yan, and Narlax are great - if you have them, but awakened Connie + Efrigid tend to work quite well too, while Obsidian & Sethos cannot keep up here. **In late-game**, heroes such as Raida, Leif, Azura are very versatile, can tank enemies outright (or charm an enemy to use as a tank, in Azura's case), plus help take advantage of nearby towers. With the exception of Connie though, most early-game heroes will die too quickly & do too little damage to be of much use. Also, while it may seem odd b/c people talk more on the Reddit about Koizuul being the #1 hero, he isn't as useful as others for the situations that you see in RS, b/c his usefulness is geared more specifically towards the tournament style of play, where masses of enemies crowd together and his attacks can kill them all at once, plus towers are unable to provide virtually any damage; while in RS towers can be put on blessed spots to scale with increasing damage, and there are fewer waves to help charge up his ability to switch to dragon form, plus his fish form is excruciatingly slow to move, and cannot do much to hit flying enemies.

**The ideal / meta solution**: notably, Leif, Yan, and Helios can power up towers, which when they are on a blessed spot, can do TREMENDOUS damage. Heroes that provide additional chances for towers to do damage are useful for a similar reason - e.g., Raida's charge & stun (plus just astonishing power overall, with his Oni lightning sent all over the map, often, and also use against fliers), Leif's ability to tank nearly forever (shield+lifesteal) & deal critical attacks, Koi's high defense even in fish form plus the occasional switch to dragon form to decimate a wave here & there, plus his R6 ability to power up Raida's lightning, Narlax's pull (good in combination with Raida's charge), Yan's teleport (also can speed up recharging Koi's dragon form), Mabyn's fear & stun, Connie & Efri for their slow, and more recently added to the game, Fee's R7 + Connie providing fantastic delay even if little damage, and Lancelot's R7 providing outright immunity to physical and magical damage to help support all your ally units.

See also the RS Strategy Guide that provides even more tips specifically for this game mode.

### Q: Which hero is more useful - Narlax or Yan?

**Quick TLDR**: usually Yan, though Narlax is almost as good.

**Full answer**: The answer changes depending on the current state of the game. Neither are particularly helpful in mid-game, though Yan has some use in W-6 to haste towers. Mainly though, players make the choice based on who is more helpful in tournaments later - though Yan is mostly helpful to haste Koi, and Narlax to pull for Raida or Koi, and so late-world heroes are needed to fully make use of them - and to provide 5 awakenings to unlock W-5 or W-6.

Old advice recommending skipping both though and saving up for Leif instead, who would provide *far* more utility through to the end of the campaign. Though he's not blessed every season in tournaments, and so the current advice is to just focus on awakening necro-Connie instead - perhaps using fast-tracking.

More details are available at the General Strategy, Tournament Detailed Strategy, tournament Meta, Realm Siege Strategies, and Heroes Overview (campaign and tournament) pages.

### Q: Is Leif really worthwhile (anymore)?

**Quick TLDR**: not really - unless you are "stuck" and need his extreme power. He does offer the fastest way to convert gems to raw power, and would help increase your power more quickly than any other hero prior to unlocking W6 - e.g., to buy just before a new-hero event to help you reach the next milestone. Though he's extremely expensive and his tournament viability is mainly for veterans who have several fire-based heroes ready to receive his synergy (Smoulder, Caldera, and sometimes Helios). He also offers extreme short-term tournament viability, though once you get Raida and Koi you'll never use him for his general power again.

**Full answer**: Leif is the most powerful hero in the game when you first buy him. W6 heroes like Raida offer far more power eventually, but require months to power up, while Leif offers his power *immediately*. The problem is that he's *too powerful*, in that you can "get by" with far less power, at far lower gem cost, namely by using necro-Connie, unlocked in W4, and then meteors in certain difficult levels like 160 and perhaps 150. With Leif you never need to use meteors, anywhere in campaign - even in necro-Connie's area.

Leif => requires 31-37 days to save up for him (see purchase cost comparison). He immediately offers 5 awakening tokens towards unlocking W6, which would cost you 16-20 days compared to accruing 5 awakenings by awakening existing heroes (just for the gems alone, though really *far* more than that b/c of the time required to earn the tokens). Thus his effective price is at most 17 days "extra" beyond that. More importantly he's the single most powerful hero in the game for when you first get him - after him, heroes start coming pre-awakened to only R2 instead of R5, and so need months of time to be awakened to useful ranks; which means Leif represents the pinnacle of immediately-offered power. So if you *happen* to have enough gems for him (or are willing to spend real-world $$$ on a hero, perhaps via a gem bundle) and don't want to spend time awakening heroes instead then he could be a good choice (also he could help a LOT with necro-Connie's levels if you weren't able to complete them yet, and were averse to using consumables to do so). He also ends up being RS Meta, though oddly it's usually far more effective to use a hero such as Raida for his ability to tank and kill enemies directly, though when that fails, Leif's boosting of towers remains extremely effective for most situations. In tournaments Leif is also a powerful provider of synergy to fire-based heroes, the so-called Fire Path, but until you have those heroes ready to receive it, he's not great in the general sense, at least compared to Raida and Koi (though still better than anyone unlocked before him). Sadly it's even difficult to win his own blessed week, since he completely lacks any anti-air abilities, and thus relies on other heroes e.g. R4 Smoulder and towers to deal with them.

Connie => with enough meteors (30-40) you can get her as early as mid-W4 and start awakening her to help you both pass difficult levels like 120 and also unlock W5 with, before you even get to where you can unlock Leif. Once there, she may not be OP like he is, but she can get the job done. Of course, you'll get her anyway - she's too good to pass up - but if you DO struggle severely in W5 or W6 even with her, and happen to do so for long enough to earn enough gems to pick up Leif, then you can always get both of them (nobody who has ever bought Leif has had cause to regret it:-). Though even in that situation there are other uses to which those gems could be put, for instance to fast-track and awaken Connie to her R6 where she has AMAZING power (also consider taking Efri to R6 to complement her ability to slow enemies down near towers, which do the actual work of killing), or to buy Yan or Narlax for later tournament use.

BTW, Connie gets AMAZING at R5 - so if you struggle with her before that, just keep going. If you want the details: at R2 the 11 bunnies have 15 hp, at R3 the cool-down to summon them is reduced 44% and 6 of them become large with doubled hp and deal tiny damage, but the real jump is at R5 where they gain the ability to inherit Connie's status, so that an appropriately-leveled necro-Connie provides a whopping >30-fold greater hp to all 11 bunnies than they had even at R4. Additionally they start to do noticeable damage that now powers up with her level, and most important when they die they explode, dealing magical AoE damage and slowing all nearby enemies, including fliers. They also last up to 20% longer (outermost ones).

Yan => if you DO happen to have an extra 7.5k gems lying around, many people pick up Yan instead. Like Leif, she also boosts nearby heroes + towers (especially useful in W5-6), and while she isn't nearly as good at it, she offers much more use in tournaments later. Granted, she isn't nearly as good a hero all by herself as Leif is, but she offers great power to haste Koi in tournaments, and so later after you get him she might have been your next pick anyway. Yan is a good option, though problematic in one sense: she won't save your game in late-W4 if that is what you hoped for, being strictly a "support" hero, and with her hasting either being bugged or extremely poorly designed. Also, while she isn't anywhere near as good as Leif, she can also help getting through necro-Connie's event, whereupon late-W4 becomes MUCH easier with Connie.

Narlax => mainly a hero to pick up for later tournament usage, more than any utility offered for W5-6. He's not "bad" there though, just not as "good" as the others.

Caldera => hell no - https://www.reddit.com/r/RealmDefenseTD/comments/etxzyj/friendly\_reminder\_that\_caldera\_is\_a\_waste/.

Conclusion: if you are severely struggling in campaign or RS, Leif will save your game, especially if you already have necro-Connie (but even more to help get her). Use him to get Raida, and then having both will let you finish all Legendary & Endless modes, easily handle most RS situations even when they have 2 exits, and even before you have Raida you should also be able to win several tournaments (giving you THOUSANDS of gems to help speed your progress), at least in lower leagues, and/or later in the season (and then when you have Raida & Koi those wins will become more frequent and take you to vastly greater heights). Plus you may want Leif anyway, by end-game for RS. Though these days most people will try to skip Leif in campaign instead, opting to rely on necro-Connie, maybe the occasional meteor, and make (slightly) faster progress to having the tournament Meta that way - and if an expensive 7.5k-gem hero DOES need to be purchased, they'll get Yan or Narlax (see other FAQ question dedicated solely to that comparison). Leif will eventually be needed for a new event hero, but that can be done later - after Raida & Koi and you are winning tournaments regularly, though F2P players will struggle to get a new event hero to R5 anyway. TLDR: avoid Leif if you are F2P, unless you happen to have the gems or are close already and really need the help - otherwise there are more efficient options.

More details are available at the Campaign General Strategy and Tournament Detailed Strategy pages - e.g., a cost-analysis comparison b/t Leif vs. Caldera. There are also a ton of in-depth discussions in Reddit posts on the subject, though that gets into historical details such as people not knowing at the time if necro-Connie was going to be released for early players, or if she would be a W6 hero instead, while the above is a fairly accurate summary of the end result.

### Q: Is Azura a good purchase (or wait until Raida/Koizuul)? Or what about Caldera in W5?

**Quick TLDR**: Wait for Raida and Koizuul.

**Full answer**: Neither Azura nor Caldera are needed for the campaign, and their utility in tournaments is now all but nonexistent, except for their blessed week where they need the long grind to their R7s to win. They can be fun heroes, but you can get more use out of the tournament Meta if you get them first.

See also their entries in the Tournament Detailed Strategy and Meta pages for more details, and for even MORE information search the Reddit page, e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/RealmDefenseTD/comments/e2640y/is\_azura\_worth\_it/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/RealmDefenseTD/comments/etxzyj/friendly\_reminder\_that\_caldera\_is\_a\_waste/.