Costume is similar to a template for an alternative skin of a Hero (of the higher rarity – unlike Emblems but like Limit Breaking, there are no Costumes for 1* and 2* feeders!). The Hero can "equip" the Costume in the Hero Card to change stats, Special Skill set, Class, and of course appearance. Ascended Costumes also permanently increase their Hero's stats, even when they aren't used.
Costumes were introduced in Version 24 (November 2019) to make Season 1 Heroes more competitive; in Version 50 (August 2022) followed additional, "secondary" Costumes for some 4* and 5* S1 Heroes (these are summoned in a "2-for-1-pack", both together). Later, third Toon Costumes for S1 were introduced.
Costumes can be summoned (together with their Heroes) every other month through the Costume Chamber using Costume Keys – or Gems, of course; however it is worth noting that Keys are awarded so often in Chest loot etc. that even an idle player will come to the Chamber with enough Keys for at least 2–3 Summons. Also, Hero Academy sometimes produces a Hero together with the Costume.
Heroes wearing a Costume have their Special Skill, Class and Aether Power changed, enabling them to be used more flexibly and frequently. E.g. Costumed Sonya changes from Paladin to Druid, and can be used in the latter's Class Trials. However, the costumed Hero inherits the Talent Path from the original Hero and can/need not be trained separately with the new class's Emblems (i. e. Sonya uses only the original Paladin Emblems, which give the same bonus also to the costumed Druid form). Emblem effects are furthermore only applied to the Costume after it is fully maxed (levels and skills), like when a "naked" Hero of such a Class could start the talent path.
Toon costumes have all the same Class and Aether Power as base form.
In the Museum, each Costume has its own slot as a separate Hero form, included in the displayed "Heroes in Museum" total. (In the past there were various approaches to whether Costumes were counted in various "Hero Roster Mastery" limited-repetition events like the Tavern of Legends, but they are generally not recognised and get removed from the available roster together with the main form.)
Leveling[]
The Costume needs to be leveled and ascended from the humble beginnings separately from the original Hero. Leveling works like with Heroes, but faster: off-color feeders provide 2x as much experience when fed to costumes, same-color thrice the basic off-color rate, i. e. 2,5x the 120% XP they give to Heroes themselves. Costumes can also be leveled using spare copies of (other) Costumes, which brings a lot of XP as well as 50 % percentage for raising Special Skill level when using the same kind of Costume. However, a Costume cannot be ascended past the ascension level of its Hero; this requires lengthy leveling of both, even or especially if the Costumed version is preferable to the basic Hero.
If the Player has more than one copy of a particular Hero, it gets complicated: Receiving a single appropriate Costume allows all those Heroes to start leveling their own Costumes, but this means that each such Hero's progress through the Costume's leveling is separate, as are the bonuses it brings. (Here the costumed metaphor, of siblings borrowing/sharing clothes, breaks down completely – a sewing pattern might be a better one.)
Also, as long as a Costumed (or not) Hero is active in a War or Raid Tournament defense, they is bound to that appearance (a second such Hero could of course un/equip otherwise). Even more importantly, un/equipping a Costume affects the Hero in all teams and contexts; this often brings unpleasant surprises after the player switches to a weaker form for a Class Quest, but forgets to change the Hero back before a Raid.
The only exception is already started War: if you change costume of a Hero in your War defense team, their form will stay the same, no matter which version you will use outside of it.
Costume Bonus[]
After a Costume's Ascension it starts providing additional percentage bonus to the stats of both the original Hero and the costumed form itself. The maximum bonus (for Season 1 Heroes only!) of 5% Attack, 5% Defence, 10% Health, 5% Mana Generation is applied when the Costume is fully ascended and leveled as well as its Special Skill brought to 8/8. Until then every ascension level grants smaller, incremental bonuses. The Hero Card always shows the bonus under a small icon of a mask top left – gray when a Costume is available but not yet ascended to any bonus, golden for all ascensions above that; for two-Costumed Heroes, the mask has a small "2x" overlaid and after both are fully maxed, it becomes sequined and serrated. Similarly for "3x".
| Rarity | Ascension 2 | Asc. 3 | Asc. 4 | One Maxed | Both Maxed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3* | 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 | 3 / 3 / 6 / 3 | (n/a) | 5 / 5 / 10 / 5 | (n/a) |
| 4* and 5* | 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 | 2 / 2 / 4 / 2 | 3 / 3 / 6 / 3 | 15 / 15 / 20 / 5 | |
| Non-S1 (most) | 1 / 1 / 2 / 1 | 2 / 2 / 4 / 1 | 2 / 2 / 5 / 1 | 3 / 3 / 6 / 1 | (n/a) |
| Morlovia, Santa | (?) | 2 / 2 / 4 / 1 | |||
For Heroes with multiple Costumes, bonuses from them combine though don't really add up as that would make them too powerful especially regarding mana where 5 % remains the ceiling. For example, a 5* Hero with one Costume fully maxed and second brought to Ascension 2 has 6 / 6 / 11 / 5; so the second Costume's contribution is 1 / 1 / 1 (/ 0) continuing even with each further ascension step until 8 / 8 / 13 / 5 before the completion (beta reported maintaining the basic first-costume increments of 1 / 1 / 2 being maintained here but this seems to have been nerfed). A 4* Hero with Costumes at 2nd and 3rd Ascension has 3 / 3 / 6 / 3, jumping however to 5 / 5 / 10 / 5 when the second Ascends to the 4th (so perhaps it is the number of ascension steps of both Costumes that is summed for the final result?).
List[]
Below is a list of Costumed Heroes, with secondary and tertiary Costumes denoted (2) and (3). As of 2023, ALL Season 1 Classic Family have a Costume available, although they had been introduced gradually. The general rule mid-2024 is that with a few exceptions, 3* Classic Heroes have two Costumes, and 4* and 5* have three, the additional being Toon.
A comprehensive overview on the stats of the original and costumed heroes is available on the forum (from 2020).
History of how Costumes were added until May 2022 is available at an old version of this page.
Forum Links[]
- "Costume" Forum Tag
- Costume Bonus Master Thread (final bonuses for various groups)
- "Early Information on Round 2 of Secondary Season 1 Hero Costumes" Beta Thread (tables of bonus progress on lower ascensions; claimed somewhat different % in beta)
