Playing with Heroes

Heroes are like other units in Grepolis, only completely different. Having said that, it isn't rocket science to get your head around heroes and what they can and can't do. They all have some serious boosting advantages, so getting them is a huge plus in your game, no matter what kind of game you intend to play.

Getting a Hero

The first hero is Andromeda (actually that should be heroine, but for some reason no one ever uses it). She is a gift from Grepolis to get you started. All other heroes after that have to be recruited and paid for in hero coins. Heroes can accompany attacks, but they can only defend in the city they are stationed in.

Unlike all other units, heroes aren't recruited through the barracks or harbor, but through a special hero's pop up window. The window can be opened by clicking on the hero icon below the god icon on the right hand side of the screen. The window offers an overview tab showing all the heroes you have with assign and unassign buttons, recruitment tab where you can recruit new heroes, and a collection tab where you can view all available heroes and what they can do. The collection tab functions as a price list, too.

To recruit a hero, you need to spend coins of war or coins of peace. The coins are acquired by completing island quests. You can exchange coins from war to peace and vice versa, but  you shouldn't do it as you lose half the coins in the exchange.

The hero window is easy to use.  It opens on the overview page. This page lists the heroes you have, how experienced they are, and where they are stationed. Experience can be bought with coins, the list gives you the current price for the next level. Clicking on the arrow icon on the right hand side, you'll open another popup window which informs you about what you get for your money. It is also where you pay for the increase in experience.

The overview also holds the recruitment button. Clicking on that button gets you to this day's two heroes that are on offer on the recruitment page. All the information you need and the prices are published there. This page can also be reached by using the top menu navigation. You can only buy one hero per day.

Using the top navigation, you can go to the collection page. It contains the pictures of all available heroes. Hovering your mouse over a picture brings up the information and price panel for that hero. The list is in alphabetical order. It shows your heroes highlighted. The heroes have either a scroll icon or a sword. The scroll is for peace and the sword for war. The distinction serves for the use of the coins of the same name.

A Hero is a Different Kind of Unit

• Unlike other units, a hero doesn't use any population from your city. You don't need any resources or favor other than the coins of war or peace.
• A hero is not bound to any city like other units. You can assign them to the city of your choice. To do that, use the hero window. They can move around your cities at will. Assigning a hero a city brings the hero bonus to that city (after some waiting time). There is never more than one hero in a city. 
• A hero can be withdrawn from a city (unassigned). When a hero is unassigned, he moves out of the city immediately and the city loses any bonus he brought into it. You can't unassign a hero while he is on an attack mission. When you assign a hero, he takes some time to unpack his bags; the waiting time varies with the speed of the Grepolis world. The hero bonus will only be applied to the city after that waiting period is over.
• A hero can travel with an attacking army (but not with a defending army). He doesn't need a ship or space on one when going overseas; when you send him with a flying unit, he flies as well but may slow them down considerably.
• The hero travels at the slowest speed your army sets to get to the targeted city. After the attack, he returns immediately to the city he is assigned to with no travel time at all. If you recall an attack, the hero returns to the city immediately, too.
• A hero never dies. He can get wounded and takes hours to recover. The recovery time is again dependent on the world speed. The recovery doesn't cancel the hero bonus in the city he is assigned to.
• When you lose a city, the hero stays with you and can be assigned to another city.

Making The Most of Your Heroes

You can move your heroes around at will. In Nysa I called them my traveling circus. A few examples to get your mind in the direction of moving heroes around. Before you go, get some information on the world you are playing in while you have time to fool around. Test the time a hero needs to unpack his bags after being assigned to a city. 

Example: There are heroes that speed up the recruitment of units or make them cheaper. One of those heroes is Chiron. He gives you a huge bonus on both counts when recruiting hoplites. Having him in a city where you want to build them is therefore important. The bonus for the reduction is applied at the moment you place your recruitment order in the barracks. After that you can move him to the next city and repeat the process.

Example: There are heroes that boost your resources productivity. One of those heroes is Terylea. She gives you a huge boost in silver production. Place her where you want to fill the cave.

It is well worth your while to read the descriptions of each hero carefully before deciding which one to recruit next. They are offered to you in pairs of two every day; at midnight London time they change for a different pair. Instead of wasting your coins in changing from war to peace or vice versa to get a hero you like, be patient. They all come up again for you to get at a later date.