How to Upgrade Heroes in War of Deities: Darkness Rises
When you play War of Deities: Darkness Rises, it is critical to upgrade your heroes to ensure that they stay up to par with enemies that become stronger as your progress. The game offers a wide variety of options to make your heroes stronger and we’ll be looking at those in this guide.
Hero Attributes
Each hero in the game has the same set of attributes and these can be affected whenever they receive upgrades. It is important to know a hero’s attributes not only so you can gain a deeper understanding of the game mechanics but also so that you can know exactly what is being upgraded and what else can be upgraded.
| Attribute Name | Description |
| HP | HP determines how much damage a hero can withstand. |
| ATK | Attack increases damage dealt to enemies. Whether physical or M.DMG (magic damage) is dealt depends on hero’s skills. |
| P.DEF | Physical Defense reduces the damage of physical attacks. |
| M.DEF | Magic Defense reduces the damage of magic attacks |
The four mentioned above are the core attributes of a hero, which are usually what will be affected when a hero is upgraded through the conventional methods to be discussed in this guide. However, there are also special attributes that a hero can acquire.
| Attribute Name | Description |
| Accuracy | Increase attack accuracy |
| Dodge | Reduces attack accuracy |
| Crit Rating | Increases the chance of dealing a critical hit |
| Crit Block Rate | Reduces the chance of receiving a critical hit |
| Crit Damage Amplification | Increases the ratio of damage when landing a critical hit |
| Block Rate | Increases the chance of blocking enemy attacks |
| Break Rate | Reduces the chance of attacks being blocked |
| Block Power | Reduces the ratio of damage when an attack is blocked |
| Leech Rate | Ratio of damage converted into healing |
| Counter Rate | Ratio of damage converted into counter damage |
| Insight | Increases effect accuracy |
| Tenacity | Decreases effect accuracy |
| Damage Amplification | Increases the rate of all damage |
| Damage Resist | Reduces the rate of all damage |
| Physical Pierce | Increases physical attack rate |
| Physical Resist | Reduces physical attack rate |
| Magic Pierce | Increases magic attack rate |
| Magic Resist | Reduces magic attack rate |
| Health Healed | Increases the effectiveness of healing |
| Received Healing | Increases the rate of healing received |
| HP Restored | Extra HP restored |
| HP Received | Extra HP received |
| Final Damage Increase | Final extra damage when dealing direct damage |
| Final Damage Mitigation | Final damage mitigation when receiving direct damage |
Level Up
Levelling up is the most basic way of upgrading heroes in War of Deities: Darkness Rises as it increases a hero’s core attributes. For this one, you are going to need Hero EXP and Hero Powder.
A hero can be leveled up simply by clicking on the ‘Level Up’ button. Doing so depletes a certain number of Hero EXP. The higher the level of the hero is, the more Hero EXP required to level up even further. At some points, you must spend Hero Powder alongside Hero EXP to continue leveling up.
When leveling up your heroes, try to have them at the same level by equally allocating Hero EXP and Hero Powder to avoid any power imbalances in the lineup. Having one hero with a significantly lower level than the others can result in their dying quickly during a battle, which wastes the lineup slot that could’ve been taken by a stronger hero.
Ascension
Ascending significantly increases a hero’s core attributes compared to leveling up and also gives new passive skills.
To ascend a hero, you are going to need scrolls. There are many types of scrolls in the game such as the Rare Humility Scroll, Rare Honesty Scroll, and the like. Scrolls can be obtained by spending energy to instantly replay certain campaign stages. Once you have the required scrolls, you must spend a certain number of Coins to finalize the ascension.
Aside from huge attribute upgrades, ascension also grants a hero Talent Skills which are passive skills that either affect only the hero or all heroes. A new Talent Skill is unlocked per ascension level.
| Ascension Level | Talent Skill | Description |
| Rare | ATK I | ATK +40 |
| Elite | HP II | HP +1550 (all heroes) |
| Epic | ATK III | ATK +210 (all heroes) |
| Legendary | HP IV | HP +11500 (all heroes) |
| Mythic | HP V | HP +30700 (all heroes) |
Raising Stars (Miracle)
Each hero is rated with a certain number of stars which determine their base strength. Increasing the number of stars can upgrade your heroes and this can be done through the Miracle.
The Miracle can be accessed by going to the Main City and clicking on Miracle. To raise a hero’s star, you will need to have one or more identical copies of the same hero with the same stars. The number of copies depends on the selected hero’s initial star level. For instance, 3-star heroes require two copies whereas 4-star heroes require only one.
Equipping Gear
Specific core attributes can be further upgraded when a hero wears gear. Each hero has a maximum of four gear slots which accommodates the following gear pieces:
| Gear Item | Affected Attribute(s) |
| Weapon (i.e., sword, dagger) | ATK |
| Headwear (i.e., helmet, hat) | M.DEF, HP |
| Topwear (i.e., armor) | P.DEF, HP |
| Footwear (i.e., boots) | ATK, HP |
Like heroes, gear also come in various rarities and the rarer the gear item is, the more powerful attribute bonuses it gives to the hero wearing it. Existing gear can be enhanced by trading off required gear items and spending coins. For every required gear that is added to the gear enhancement menu, more “upgrade EXP” is earned. With enough EXP, the gear item advances its star level, and its attribute bonuses are increased.
More gear can be acquired mainly by completing campaign stages. Note that not all stages reward you with gear items.
Another way of acquiring gear is through The Heroic Crusade which can be found in the Forest menu. In this special game mode, Magic Steel Ore is constantly farmed even while AFK and is stored in a chest (which becomes full after 8 hours).
It can also be acquired from Crusade challenges which can be done by clicking on the ‘Challenge’ button on the bottom-right.
With Magic Steel Ore, you can craft new gear by clicking on the ‘Smithy’ button.
For 100 Magic Steel Ore, you can randomly generate a crafting ingredient. When two identical ingredients are combined, it creates a clothing item. When two clothes are combined, it creates a new rare-quality gear item that can then be equipped by heroes.
