Upgrading heroes - level, grade, rank, burn and merge

A hero grows in three separate ways. They use different things, so “upgrade” can mean any of them.

What	What raises it	What it costs
Level	Hero EXP	EXP items from the Store, or EXP from battles
Grade	Medals of that hero’s type	Medals plus a wait (see the table below)
Rank	Trophies (hero gear) in all six slots, then Up Rank	Trophies plus a wait for some ranks

Higher grade makes the hero’s Battle Skills stronger. Higher rank unlocks more Battle Skills. Level adds to the bonus the hero gives your army.

Level

Level comes from Hero EXP. Use an EXP item on the hero, or let the hero fight in battles. The game tells you when you only need part of an item to reach max level. Trophies also have a minimum hero level; see Trophies and how to craft them.

Grade

Grade costs medals, and medals are specific to a hero type. A Lord Richard medal only upgrades Lord Richard heroes.

Open the hero, tap the grade badge, check the Owned / Required line, then tap Upgrade. The medals are taken when you start. The grade changes when the timer ends.

Upgrade into	Medals	Wait
Uncommon	20	20 h
Rare	50	60 h
Epic	100	180 h
Legendary	200	540 h
Mythic	400	1,620 h
Tempered	600	4,860 h

Summoning a hero (Common) costs 10 medals of that type. Tempered is the top grade.

Where medals come from:

• Classic heroes (the ones you summon in game): Hero Medal packs in the Store. See Store and packs.
• Genesis heroes: burn or merge spare heroes of the same type (below). You can also buy spare Genesis heroes on OpenSea and deposit them into the game.

Rules:

• Only one hero can upgrade its grade at a time on your account. A merge counts as an upgrade.
• The hero must be at home. Resting in the castle or guarding the Wall is fine. A hero that is marching, sheltered, wounded, dead, captured or listed for sale cannot start an upgrade.
• While a grade upgrade runs you can tap Speed Up and spend universal Speed Up items. Building, training or research speed-ups do not apply to heroes.
• If the upgrade fails to start on the network, the medals are given back.
• A few special “coin” heroes pay in their own token instead of medals. The Upgrade screen shows the exact cost in that case.

Rank

Rank needs trophies, not medals.

1. Equip a trophy of your hero’s current rank in all six slots. A trophy of a different rank is refused with “Only Hero rank N can equip this”.
2. When the screen says Ready to upgrade, tap Upgrade now (Up Rank).
3. Wait for the timer, or Speed Up.

Waiting time into a rank: Rank 2 takes 20 h, Rank 3 takes 60 h, Rank 4 takes 180 h. Ranks 5 to 8: TBD (needs source). The timer on the Rank screen is the truth for your hero.

Equipped trophies cannot be taken off again. Max rank is 8. Only one hero can raise its rank at a time.

Burn: turn a spare Genesis hero into medals

Burning and merging work for Genesis heroes only. Classic heroes cannot be burned.

A burn gives you 5 medals plus every medal that hero’s grade upgrades cost, as medals of the same type:

Hero grade when burned	Medals you get
Common	5
Uncommon	25
Rare	75
Epic	175
Legendary	375
Mythic	775
Tempered	1,375

The hero NFT is gone for good, with its level, grade and rank. Any trophies equipped on it come back to your trophy inventory as new trophies of the same type.

How: open the hero and tap Burn for medals, or pick heroes in Manage (Advanced Hero Manager) and tap Burn. Tick the confirmation and tap Burn hero.

Only a hero resting in the castle can be burned. Not allowed: a hero guarding the Wall, marching, upgrading, or with a grade or rank action still running. The burn runs on the network, usually in a few seconds. The screen shows Burning… and then +N medals.

Merge: spare heroes into one grade-up

Merge burns spare heroes of the same type to pay the medals for the next grade of a target hero of that type.

1. In the target’s grade screen, or in Manage, tap Merge.
2. Pick spare heroes of the same type. Up to 120 per merge. Just enough picks the fewest.
3. The total needs to reach the medal cost of the next grade. Extra medals stay with you.
4. Read Lost for good, tick the confirmation, tap Merge.

The target must be at home and not already upgrading. One merge at a time. After the spares burn, the target starts its normal grade upgrade and timer. If a merge stops, the medals from heroes already burned stay with you.

If something goes wrong

“I burned heroes and no medals appeared.”

1. Wait a minute and reopen the hero list. Burns finish on the network and the screen shows Burning… until they do.
2. Look at the right hero type. Medals are credited as medals of the burned hero’s type, so they show in the Owned / Required line of a hero of that type, not as a general item.
3. Check the list: a hero that says Not burned or Couldn’t burn this hero is still in your roster and nothing was taken. Tap Try again.
4. If the heroes are gone from your roster and the medals still have not shown after a few minutes, open a ticket (below).

Upgrade button is dimmed. The line under it says why: not enough medals (“Need N more”), a merge or another hero is upgrading, or the hero is busy. Bring the hero home first.

“These heroes don’t give enough medals for the next grade. Add more heroes.” The spares you picked are worth less than the next grade costs. Add more.

“One of these heroes is already in a merge. Wait for it to finish.” Wait for the running merge, then try again. “Finish the current grade upgrade before merging into this hero.” means the target is still upgrading.

Stuck on Upgrading. Check the timer. Grade waits are long (see the table). Use Speed Up if you have universal speed-ups.

Contacting support

If a burn, merge or upgrade took your hero or medals and nothing changed after a few minutes, open a ticket from Setting > More > Support (steps in Contact support). Include the hero name and its NFT ID (shown on the hero card), roughly when it happened, and a screenshot of the hero list or Upgrade screen. Support cannot promise a result before checking your account.