Which hero should I pick?

Another hero select is upon us soon, and I can feel this question already spreading through the forums. So this is my attempt to answer this question.

Also, this is my opinion, do you need to follow this guide? Definitely not. I’ve provided my reasoning below, you can choose if you want to follow it or not.

First off, 

DO NOT USE THE TIER LIST TO MAKE A CHOICE!!!

Yes, I tried to make the Tier List as an accurate representation of the hero’s strength, but it does not take into account the heroes you have to make a better team for your own heroes. You can pick a “OP” rated hero and then have no one to support it, and you now have an OP hero (e.g. Shuwen, who, while is really strong, is also really reliant on ally supports) that you can’t use because you don’t have the right allies for him.

Rather, pick a hero based off your current heroes to best progress, not the first hero that you see has an OP tier ranking.

Now that’s out of the way.

tl;dr 

(Too long, didn’t read, here’s a summary)

Don’t have Bihwa? Pick Bihwa. Got Bihwa? Pick Genevie. Got Genevie? Pick whatever.

Basically, Bihwa’s biggest issue is she doesn’t have enough Rpen, use Bihwa + Maria + Orfeo/Kaede in PVE/Challenge, etc. etc.. Or Fenrir for resistance shred or something.

In Colosseum, Marpei Bihwa Caeneus OP, but just plop Bihwa behind two tanks and you’ll be fine.

K. Now here’s the whole thing.

Prioritization

This is basically the main reason why I suggest the heroes I do. I know no one reads this, but if you’re interested in why I suggest a certain hero, the basics of the reasoning is here.

Anyways,

The First Choice: Selection Ticket For Beginners in Early/Mid-game

It has never been easier to make this chart.

Don’t have Bihwa? Pick Bihwa!

Basically: Gesundae Tree activates whenever ally taps a 3-chain, and this deals 300% of her HA every 0.1 seconds for 4 seconds, which is 300% * 4/0.1 = 12000% of Bihwa’s HA every time someone 3-chains at a 4 second cooldown. After Gseundae, she summons Gangcheoi, which while only dealing 4000% of her HA (“only”), it buffs her attack power by 100%. Which means her next Gesundae Tree deals double the damage. Which is 24000% of her HA.

For the record, almost no other hero in the entire game has this level of scaling. The closest ones are Altair Kaede combination (2 Season Units) and Shuwen (Only Colosseum).

Bihwa excels in Colosseum and Story. Her biggest weakness is she has no way to increase her Resistance Penetration anyhow, which means Challenge Resistance does pose somewhat of a threat to her. However, all this requires you to do is to include a Resistance Penetration buffer or Enemy Resistance shredder on your team, and Bihwa can easily clear Challenge (she can solo Challenge 4 and Challenge 7 Hidden…). She also can clear Challenge 10 Hidden given a decent team.

Bihwa does admittedly struggle a bit with Raid (Loki Incarnate), for high resistance enemies like that, you will Resistance Shredders. Sentinel’s 75% Res Shred or Mandy’s 50% Res Shred are both viable to be paired with her, be careful on the team composition however.

Bihwa also really doesn’t need Shadow Mage as a skill. If you’re running her as non-leader, she pretty much never even generates SP, and as leader, Shadow Mage only is useful in Challenge compositions. Even so, Mana Recycle Bihwa can clear Challenge 10 Hidden, and Mana Recycle remains to be better in Colosseum.

So, if you don’t have Bihwa, get her!

The Second Choice

So what if you do have Bihwa?

Then, I’d suggest the hero Genevie.

Before Bihwa was released, Genevie was the “must-pick hero” for most players since Genevie is one of the few reliable ways to clear Challenge since she debuffs enemy armor/resistance, evasion, increases their damage intake, dispels, etc.. There was almost nothing she can’t do. Genevie’s weakness is that she has a terrible waveclear ability since she focuses on one target, but she is darn good at that; she’s arguably still the highest Single-Target DPS in the game.

Genevie excels in Challenge and Raids, sometimes even trivializing them. The reason why we’d recommend Genevie with Bihwa is because they cover each other’s weaknesses and complement each other well. Bihwa provides your waveclear, Story clear, and Colosseum needs. Genevie provides your Raid and Challenge needs. They can even be coupled together to form excellent teams, as they work well together.

Now this choice doesn’t apply to everyone since not everyone needs a easier time clearing Challenge/Raids, however for new players who I’d assume have next to nothing, Bihwa first, then Genevie.

Why not Shadow Mage? Because a hero who deals 24000% of her HA as damage doesn’t need to multiply her damage by 3 to clear Challenge 10 Hidden. Seriously. Mana Recycle does give +70% HA and shreds enemy resistance, also it’s better in Colosseum.

The Third Choice

And here’s what you do if you have both Bihwa and Genevie.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Honestly, if you can clear Challenge (at least to Challenge 7) and Loki Incarnate (which Bihwa and/or Genevie can do), then it doesn’t really matter what you get anymore. You’re pretty set for the rest of the game as long as you can obtain sigils from Challenge 7 and Loki Incarnate. Who knows, pick someone for Arena or something, Cindy, Odin, Gueronica, Marpei, Caeneus, Shub, No. 9, or some skill unlock hero, Arona, Vivian, Tia, Lilith, or just some fun hero, like Athos, Haerang, Layla (not joking), etc.

Here’s some key options, though. Just a reminder Bihwa already is very strong in Story, Challenge, and Colosseum.

Name	Hero	Description
Arona		Unlocks Rapid Firing Souls, which is a key skill for Archers. This skill works very well with Genevie, Altair, Sigruna, etc.. Consider if you happen to have important archers.
Lilith		Unlocks Shadow Mage, which is a key skill for Wizards. This skill works very well with Bihwa, Reaper, Anzu, etc.. Consider if you happen to have important wizards.
Caeneus		Generally good tank that prefers 1-chain allies. His tanking is based off ally block taps, which means he isn’t too consistent with 3-chainers. Excellent utility, tankiness, and shield removal.
Marpei		Good support priest for Colosseum. Free 3-chains, SP, hit immunity, damage reduction, and some light buffs. Can be incorporated into many Colosseum teams.
Gueronica		Good support priest for Colosseum. Specifically designed to help heroes that need to get hit. Does not work well with tanks.
Shuwen		Excellent DPS unit in Colosseum, however does need heavy ally support to be viable (Gueronica, Marpei, Priestess, Ferris, etc..). Also somewhat hard to use to his fullest potential.

Some way-too-overrated picks I see people go towards. There isn’t much wrong to pick these heroes, but you need to know why that hero would help you.

Name	Hero	Description
Orfeo		Don’t get me wrong, Orfeo is a really strong buffer. However, the thing is his buff lasts 3 seconds every 2 blocks you use. This also basically means every 12 blocks generated, you only get his buff for 3 seconds (3 Orfeo blocks every 12 blocks as non-Lead, and don’t even get me started on Lead Orfeo). If you want to use Orfeo, having Remi Level 7 is basically a prerequisite. AND FOR THE LOVE OF CORA PLEASE DON’T USE ORFEO IN COLOSSEUM, JESUS CHRIST WHY WOULD YOU
Wolfgang		Wolfgang is good for buffing, but only if he’s buffing Wizards and Hunters. Also, he doesn’t tank naturally, he relies on the skill Spirit of Protection. These restrictions in the current meta doesn’t make him too useful currently. If you do pick him, make sure you know why he works well with your units.
Vane		Vane unlocks Spirit of Protection, but unlike other Spirit skills, Spirit of Protection lets the user tank and triples their defense. Not a bad thing but most offensive paladins don’t want Spirit, and most defensive paladins suck. Paladins just don’t do well in the meta of RFS/DS/SoV buffing archer hunter warriors. Careful about why you pick him, since his use currently is very limited.
Nightingale		Nightingale unlocks Resurrection, which seems like a good skill, but if you need to resurrect, you’re usually dead anyways. Resurrection is really only for the top of the players, where their units can outlast powerful DPS units and start resurrection wars. However, this skill is generally useless if you aren’t going to start a Resurrection war in PVP.
Beatrice		Flat buffs these days are running dry. Beatrice does give a lot of buffs, but percentile buffs just works better. 99% of the time, Woompa can take the place of Beatrice for HA buffs, and Gueronica can take the place of Beatrice for Defense buffs.
Izuna		I don’t know why people are still recommending her. Izuna’s a relic of the past. She has literally 0 chance of killing through Gueronica, Ferris, or Priestess defensive barriers, gets completely yeeted by Caeneus protecting Bihwa’s, and fighting Shuwen, Rem, or GS is just counter-suicide. Please stop.

Team Compositions

Here’s some team compositions, targeted mostly around Bihwa and Genevie, since those two are the focus of.

PVE/Challenge/Raid Compositions

I assume you picked Bihwa for these one.

The team I can suggest for beginners is either Bihwa Maria Nurspy or Bihwa Maria Drake. Pretty simple, Maria for penetration buffs and Nurspy and Drake are buffers.

(Yes, Drake is less useful since you don’t need more CC, but hey, shields. If you have Seiren built, then sure, use her.)

You also can run Bihwa as non-leader. She will lack a SP skill, but Woompa buffs pretty well.

Do you always need Maria? Not necessarily. Maria is only if you don’t have enough Rpen or Apen. In these cases, you can replace Maria with another buffer.

If you have Genevie, Bihwa Genevie combo is deadly.

Now, these are the main promotional teams. Time to add some premiums into the fray. Orfeo and Kaede are some basic go-to’s.

Maria is an Apen/Rpen buffer. Some people prefer Armor/Resistance shredders. The most common one is usually Fenrir.

Wolfgang also is a classic buffer, though he does need Spirit of Protection to tank.

All of the above is for Story/Challenge. For Raids, 6480 Resistance is not something Bihwa can deal with. You can pair with Genevie for a dual-style DPS. Reminder that it’s probably a good idea to have a protector, like Gueronica.

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Or just a resistance shredder.

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Colosseum Compositions

Bihwa’s also strong in Colosseum. Her best team is generally Marpei Caeneus Bihwa, however you might not always have the two of the other premiums.

(Pro-tip, lead Marpei)

Most new players probably won’t have this type of stuff, however. Some teams for beginner players:

You get the idea. Either lead Bihwa and 3-chain her, or use another 3-chainer that’s quick. (Alex OP Promotional tank, btw, get him). Caeneus or Naofumi can both work as well, if you’ve got them.

Resources

Here are some resources that I have to offer. If you want to talk to real people and ask this question, I have a few recommendations for where to receive reliable advice, ranked from most reliable to less reliable.

• IRC Discord Server or Kiwi IRC – I know the Discord server is currently called SOPMOD Fan Club, but I promise that it’s a CQ server. This is where most of the better players tend to gather. You will pretty much always get good advice from players in this group. The only downside is that this server tends to die out from time to time, but it can jump back into activity pretty quickly.
• Official Crusaders Quest Discord – This server is pretty busy and people will constantly be on. Usually though, due to the amount of people and differing opinions, the advice sometimes could be a bit off or incorrect, but you can get some pretty good advice from here. People from IRC will often hop onto the main Discord channel as well. Please do use the #cq-advice Channel or #cq-general Channel for questions.
• Crusaders Quest Reddit Help Megathread – You can ask any question regarding CQ on here, however the answer you get usually will take some time and it’s not always correct. Still a generally good place for advice, however. Please use the Help Megathread to ask questions and not make a new post, as it clutters up the forum.

You can look through these guides for some explanations and information.

• i8∑π Tier List – Tier List and rankings of current units. This has been reviewed by many people and consider it a relatively accurate ranking of the heroes. It also includes the recommended Weapon Conversions, Sigils, Ring Options, and Skills for all heroes. However, don’t use this solely to pick your hero.
• General Guide to Crusading – Has pretty much everything you need to know about the game. A guide for all players, including Beginners, Midgamers, Endgamers, Returning Players, etc.. All areas of the game have been covered. Check this one out as it is full of information.
• Challenge Guide – Focuses specifically on the Challenge stages and includes all seven, including their Hidden Stages. Sadly, the teams for Challenge aren’t very updated, and I apologize for that; I haven’t gotten around to updating all of the new heroes capable of doing Challenge that have rendered the previous ones less useful. However, the mechanics listed on the guide are still relevant.
• Loki Incarnate Guide – Focuses specifically on the Loki Incarnate Raid Boss. This is updated currently and goes in-depth about Loki Incarnate mechanics and also the current teams used to clear it. It is missing a few teams, but those teams are usually not usable for most players as it relies on past Limited Event units and not necessarily stronger than the listed ones.

With that being said, Happy Crusading!