As with all new releases on the App Store, Crystalborne: Heroes of Fate has attracted a lot of attention. While it may be a bit early to say how good of a game this is, we do know that the timeframe right after the launch is when players are likely to get the most freebies. Our advice is to take advantage of this generosity on the part of the devs and get as many new characters as you can.

Given the not-so-subtle pushes for spending embedded into the game design, you can expect players with paid-for summons to distance themselves from the casual F2P crowd. There’s only so much that overpowered Guest units can do for you in campaign battles. Consequently, optimizing your playtime holds an important role in terms of setting your up for success, so make sure to stick to the daily routine as much as possible. Once you do have the resources you need, here’s how you can use them to upgrade your best heroes.

The Basics of Crystalborne’s Characters

First things first: every time you start a new playthrough of Crystalborne, you get a whole new set of heroes. Since we don’t have a definitive tier list just yet, we have to rely on rarity, team composition, and individual comparisons to guide our choices. Your initial set-up might not seem that big of a deal, but when you get a complete epic-or-less line-up, you might want to reconsider, especially given the fact that you can get one or more legendaries right off the bat.

You’ve probably noticed by now that each unit has a specific type. Before you move forward, it’s essential to settle on a series of characters that you think will be necessary for both PvE and PvP purposes. Where you have to make a choice between the two, prioritize PvE. Let’s take a look at the current in-game character types:

1. Energy:

• Attacker, like Cyclone or Odette.
• Support, such as Inarae or Marauder Medic.
• Defender, for instance, Signus and Simon

2. Physical:

• Attacker, e.g. Zarah and Sigrid.
• Support, like Nyx or Jesse Jo.
• Defender, such as Wolfe or Yurel.

Each of these also has an elemental affinity, namely Red, Green, Blue, Dark and Light. For more information on how this system works, you can check out our combat guide. Our advice is to keep at least one type of character from both the energy and the physical categories, although some line-ups seem to be more effective when the entire squad is either one or the other.

Upgrading Characters

The higher the level of your primary squad, the more difficult it’s going to be for you to hold onto units you don’t normally use in your line-up. The Crystalborne way to rank heroes up (upgrading their star level) is identical to that of many gachas out there, including Raid. At certain level barriers, 10, for instance, you won’t be able to progress any further unless you rank up. To do this, you’ll need an amount of silver (which gets ridiculously higher with each rank) and some fodder.

Make sure that the characters you sacrifice during this process are truly junk. To avoid accidentally wasting any of the good units, you should just go ahead and lock them in the Heroes screen. Click on the tiny lock symbol on the upper right-hand corner of their portrait and you’re done.

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It doesn’t end here, though. Each hero has a set of abilities, both active and passive. These skills can each be upgraded five times, which will cost you even more silver. However, instead of other characters, the special currency here is identical units or ability books of the same rarity as your unit. Needless to say, both are very rare and difficult to come across, so use them wisely.

Finally, your Crystalborne characters can receive a flat boost to their main stats: everything from health to attack, speed, and resistance. Each of these 8 sections can be upgraded 10 times for every character and, every time you want to level one of them up, you’ll need silver, alloy, and regenerative elixirs.

The good news is that clicking on the latter two resources will indicate where you can get them from, which is a commendable quality of life improvement on behalf of the devs. The bad news is that maxing these out will take a really long time for your main line-up, so it’s best not to hold your breath for it.

Unlocking Heroes in Crystalborne

Last, but definitely not least, you should always look to improve your collection of heroes. These titles are, after all, glorified collectors’ games. The easiest way to recruit more characters is through defeating new campaign stages or farming current ones. Some of the rewards include shards and, given enough of these, you’ll have access to new recruits.

Every day, you get access to several premium summons using green gems. These are easily farmable by completing PvE content, but trust us, you’ll never have enough. At certain intervals, the devs introduce limited time summons which increase your odds of getting specific characters. You should check them out in case there’s something you might need in there.

Until you have a stable and strong line-up, we recommend you hoard your gems exclusively for hero summons. Gear can wait. Last, but definitely not least are the events. For at least two weeks since the game’s launch, players can participate in the Grand Celebration.

Although extremely easy to do, most of these tasks will require a bit of a time commitment. The devs like to create a sense of urgency by having the awesome ones on a cooldown. Other celebrations do not have a timer, which means they can wait until you’re done farming the ones scheduled to roll out first.

These are the ways in which you can unlock and upgrade your Crystalborne heroes. If you’re not lucky with your initial line-up, you can use BlueStacks to easily re-roll your account until you get some of those legendaries. Minimum time commitment with maximum results.

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