Summoning Your First Heroes

Summoning Your First Heroes

Welcome, aspiring tactician, to the thrilling world of Fire Emblem Heroes! One of the most exciting and crucial aspects of building your formidable army is summoning new heroes. This guide will walk you through the process, explain the core mechanics, and provide strategic advice to help you make the most of your precious Orbs.

To begin your summoning journey, navigate to the main castle screen and tap the 'Summon' icon located at the bottom of your screen. This will open the Summoning Plaza, where you'll find several active summoning banners.

Understanding Summoning Banners

The Summoning Plaza presents several banners, each featuring a distinct set of heroes. These banners typically fall into a few categories:

• New Heroes Banners: Introduce brand-new heroes to the game, often with unique skills and powerful stats. These are usually time-limited.
• Legendary/Mythic Hero Banners: Feature exceptionally powerful Legendary or Mythic heroes, alongside a larger pool of other 5-star units. These banners have different summoning rates and often include a "spark" mechanic (explained below).
• Special Heroes Banners: Showcase heroes in special outfits (e.g., seasonal themes like Halloween, Christmas, Summer). These are also time-limited.
• Revival Banners: Bring back popular or older heroes for a limited time.
• Daily/Weekly Banners: Offer a rotating selection of heroes, sometimes with reduced Orb costs for the first summon.

Before summoning, always tap on a banner to view its details, including the featured heroes and their summoning rates. This is crucial for informed decision-making.

The Orb Economy: Your Summoning Currency

Orbs are the primary currency used for summoning heroes. You can acquire Orbs through various in-game activities:

• Completing story chapters and paralogues for the first time.
• Finishing quests and missions.
• Participating in special events (e.g., Tempest Trials, Grand Conquests).
• Logging in daily.
• As rewards from the Arena and Aether Raids.
• Purchasing them with real money from the in-game shop.

When you summon, you'll see five "summoning stones" of different colors (Red, Blue, Green, Colorless). Each color corresponds to the weapon type of the hero you might summon:

• Red: Red Swords, Red Lances, Red Tomes, Red Breath, Red Bows, Red Daggers
• Blue: Blue Lances, Blue Tomes, Blue Breath, Blue Bows, Blue Daggers
• Green: Green Axes, Green Tomes, Green Breath, Green Bows, Green Daggers
• Colorless: Staffs, Colorless Bows, Colorless Daggers, Colorless Breath

The cost for summoning is as follows:

• Single Summon: 5 Orbs
• Full Circle (5 Summons): 20 Orbs (5 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 3 Orbs)

Pro-Tip: Always aim to summon a full circle of 5 heroes if you have 20 Orbs. This is significantly more cost-effective than summoning individual heroes, as the cost per hero decreases with each subsequent summon in a circle.

Summoning Rates and the Pity Rate Mechanic

Understanding summoning rates is vital for managing your expectations. While your very first summon on the tutorial banner is guaranteed to be a 5-star hero (usually a powerful unit like Lyn, Roy, or Camilla), subsequent summons on regular banners are not guaranteed to be 5-stars. Here's a breakdown of typical summoning rates for a standard banner:

The Pity Rate Explained

Fire Emblem Heroes incorporates a "pity rate" mechanic to improve your chances of getting a 5-star hero over time. For every five consecutive summons you make without receiving a 5-star hero, the summoning rates for 5-star Focus and 5-star Off-Focus units each increase by 0.25%. This increase continues until you successfully summon a 5-star hero, at which point your pity rate resets to the base 3.00% for both categories. This system ensures that even if you have a string of bad luck, your chances will gradually improve.

Example: If you summon 20 heroes (four full circles) without a 5-star, your 5-star Focus and Off-Focus rates would each increase by 1.00% (0.25% x 4), making your total 5-star rate 8.00% (4.00% Focus + 4.00% Off-Focus).

Sparking (Guaranteed Summon)

Some banners, particularly New Heroes and Legendary/Mythic Hero banners, feature a "spark" mechanic. After a certain number of summons (e.g., 40 summons on a New Heroes banner, 120 on a Legendary/Mythic banner), you are given the option to choose one of the featured 5-star heroes for free. This is an invaluable feature, guaranteeing you a specific powerful unit if you invest enough Orbs. Always check if a banner has a spark and plan your Orb spending accordingly!

Strategic Summoning Advice

As a new player, your Orb resources will be limited, making strategic summoning paramount. Here's how to maximize your early game roster:

1. Prioritize Your First 5-Star: As mentioned, your very first summon on the tutorial banner is a guaranteed 5-star. This hero will be a cornerstone of your early team.
2. Focus on New Heroes Banners (Initially): New Heroes banners often feature units with strong, modern skill sets that can significantly boost your team's power. Look for heroes that fill critical roles you might be missing (e.g., a strong offensive unit, a reliable tank, or a dedicated healer).
3. Target Specific Colors: If you're aiming for a particular hero, identify their weapon color and prioritize summoning from stones of that color. For example, if you desperately need a powerful Green Axe unit, only pull on Green summoning stones within a circle. This saves Orbs by avoiding colors that won't yield your desired unit.
4. Save Orbs for Spark Banners: If a New Heroes banner features units you really want and has a spark mechanic, consider saving enough Orbs (typically 155-160 Orbs for 40 summons) to reach the spark. This guarantees you at least one copy of a desired hero.
5. Don't Chase Every Unit: It's tempting to summon on every banner, but Orbs are a finite resource. Be selective and only summon for heroes that genuinely improve your team or that you have a strong personal attachment to.
6. use Free Summons: Many banners offer a free first summon. Always take advantage of these! You might get lucky and pull a valuable hero without spending any Orbs.
7. Check IVs (Individual Values): Every hero summoned has "Individual Values" (IVs), which are slight stat modifiers (+3/-3 to one stat, -3/+3 to another). While not critical for new players, understanding IVs can help optimize your units later on. You can check a hero's IVs by looking at their stat screen and comparing them to base stats found on fan wikis.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Summoning Randomly: Don't just tap summon without a plan. Understand what heroes are available and why you're summoning.
• Spending Orbs on Individual Summons: Always try to save for a full circle of 5 summons to get the best Orb value.
• Chasing Low-Odds Units: While the pity rate helps, it's still possible to spend hundreds of Orbs without getting a specific hero. Know when to cut your losses and save for the next banner.
• Ignoring Free-to-Play Options: Fire Emblem Heroes offers many powerful free-to-play heroes through Grand Hero Battles, Tempest Trials, and Heroic Grails. Don't underestimate their potential!

By understanding these summoning mechanics and applying strategic thinking, you'll be well on your way to assembling a formidable army capable of conquering any challenge in Fire Emblem Heroes. Happy summoning, Summoner!