Every SSR by generation, and where a free account should actually spend shards

Before you spend a single shard, there is one rule that decides almost everything, and it is not on the tier-list sites. It is in Century Games' own Combat FAQ.

Joining a rally and leading one are not the same purchase

Combat FAQ — rally 9+4 and garrison structure puts it plainly: besides the 9 hero skills of the rally initiator, 4 primary hero skills — the first skill of each hero — of rally members are also included. If you lead rallies, all nine of your skills matter. If you join them, only your heroes' first skills ever get used.

That second sentence is worth real money. A half-built SSR whose value sits in its second and third skills contributes nothing extra to somebody else's rally. A cheap Epic taken to 4 stars, whose first skill reads "+25% damage dealt" or "-30% damage taken", contributes all of it. This is why Jessie, Jasser, Seo-yoon and Sergey stay useful for months on an account that has long outgrown them — they are free, and their first skills are the ones that count.

Two more lines from the publisher that people get backwards. Duplicates are not wasted: asked whether rally members' skills matching the captain's stack, Century Games answered Yes, they are stackable (Do duplicate rally skills stack). And the 4 are drawn from the whole rally, not 4 per person — Garrison team skills are recalculated says the team's 4 highest-level skills are recalculated when the member providing them leaves, which only makes sense if the game is picking 4 from a pool. The full mechanics are in how battles actually resolve.

The blunt version: a 4-star Epic generally beats a 1-star SSR. Raise the stars on what you already own before chasing the newest name. And stop at 4 stars — the fifth costs far more than it returns.

Every SSR, by generation

Generations do not unlock on a global calendar. They open in order according to how many days old your own state is, which is why "who is the best hero right now" has a different answer on your server than on someone else's.

Century Games has never published this roster. The table is compiled from independent reference sites and we kept only the entries that agreed. Generations 13–16 are the thinnest — a few names are spelled differently from one source to the next. A 17th generation (Aiden · Bertha · Eleanor) is listed by some references and not by others, so it is not in the table yet. We will add it when we can confirm it.

What a free-to-play account actually builds, in order

1. Molly to 4 stars. The one 1st-generation SSR a free account realistically finishes.
2. Jessie, Jasser, Seo-yoon and Sergey to 4 stars. Because of the rally rule above, these keep paying out long after they stop looking impressive.
3. Bahiti carries early beast hunts and rallies. Hand that job to Alonso the moment the 2nd generation opens.
4. Hold your universal SSR shards. Do not spend them on the 1st generation. Bank them and put the entire pile into Flint on the day the 2nd generation unlocks.
5. Skip the 1st-generation banner for Zinman. His value is construction speed, not combat. It is not what you want your early pulls to buy.

The names that keep coming up, by job

• Rally lead — the newest generation's Infantry hero, by default. Seigel (16th), Elif (14th). Older names still get raised: Jeronimo (1st), Magnus (9th), Mia (3rd).
• Garrison / defence — Eleonora (11th) is the near-consensus pick. Early on it is Patrick, then Sergey.
• Exploration — Vulcanus (13th) and Blanchette (10th), almost unanimously.
• Beast hunting — Jessie, Jasser and Seo-yoon in the first, second and third squads early; Karol (12th) later.

📌 These rankings are opinion, not fact. The publisher does not even publish a hero list, let alone a ranking. We kept only names that recur across several independent guide sites and dropped anything that appeared in one place only. And to be straight with you: the "community" here means guide sites, not player forums.

The official lines on getting and growing heroes

Short, and worth knowing exactly. On acquisition: You can get new Heroes from Hero Exploration, Recruitment, or some in-game events (How to get new Heroes). On growth: You need to collect Hero XP to upgrade your Heroes, and to collect Hero Shard(s) to ascend your Heroes (How to upgrade a Hero). Levels come from XP; stars come from shards, and shards are the resource this entire page is about spending well.

Sources: Century Games’ English help centre — Combat FAQ — rally 9+4 and garrison structure · Garrison team skills are recalculated · Do duplicate rally skills stack · How to get new Heroes · How to upgrade a Hero. Read on 2026-07-30.

Everything in quotation marks is Century Games' own English wording. The generation table and the role rankings are not — those are marked above for exactly that reason.