Bob's Basic Guide to the Fated Summon

Fated Summon: Jan 2026 - July 2026

while I generally break down the possible use cases for each hero and their relative possible strengths for a given roster, and generally there is no one "right answer" for every player--

THE RIGHT ANSWER IS DAEMON. TAKE DAEMON.

Seriously, this guy was just recently a 20-soul choice in the Soul Exchange, has pretty reasonable stats for a FS hero (surprisingly, not the absolute highest but close) and fantastic ability at Very Fast to help counter many Really Problematic Heroes.  He may not be able to go mano-a-mano with the Very Latest Heroes alone, but he can stick a nasty little thorn in their side and get them ready for the sucker punch of your heroes.  If you don't already have Daemon, take Daemon.  If you do already have Daemon, you may wish to significantly consider taking a second Daemon.

a word on Season 4 heroes:  note that without their costumes, these heroes are the smallest/lowest-stats even compared to the others in this Fated Summon.  This means these heroes are a lot more viable if you get their costumes, say, from Visiting Outfitter -- and even then, their costumes make them generally comparable in overall power, so make sure that their particular abilities (or the S4 costume anti-boost-heal ability) make them worth it for you compared to other Fated Summon choices.

Season 4

🟣 Dr. Moreau - Blind that renews itself when enemies heal has some utility potential (moreso with the costumed version); just watch out for cleanse, of course, and the increasing number of "never miss" heroes that blind doesn't do much against.

🟡 Prof. Lindenbrock - Priority cleanse is handy, and while Slow, she starts off faster than that; self-resetting boost healing is nice in principle.  What really hurts her is that she (boost) heals by a fixed amount, while hit point totals have been ballooning (due to hero stat creep and legendary troops) since the good Professor came out.

🔵 Russula - Very-Fast sniper who can, when firing, get out of the way of nasty incoming effects.  Hitters age faster than other heroes, though the costume would help here; don't hold your breath for the limited flat-damage punishment when coming out of hiding.  Note: If you like the S4 costume passive of boost-busting, note that Russula is a decent choice for being able to activate that passive at Very Fast.

🟢 Congalach - Lots of random hits could make him a decent finisher against a smaller number of foes, and the pile of attack-down stacks is potentially debilitating (stacks are hard to shed once applied), at least if they aren't too widely distributed.  At Slow, will do best in Rush or with mana-hax.

🔴 Elizabeth - Persistent mana-generation debuff as long as her fiends last (note -- see below -- that you may well need 2LB to get full benefit, since minions/fiends have a 1000hp limit before 2LB, 2000hp limit after)

HotM

🟣 Sir Casmir - cleanse and reflect is nice, though only for nearby; that plus Slow says "defense tank."  If the enemy fires a lot, a chance to do a bunch of free random sniper hits.  But how much do you really want to see your enemies firing Specials? An odd duck.

🟡 Aviana - Okay hit-3, but perhaps more interesting is her combination of buff-block and crit-buffing (and charges up a bit faster when buffed).  Reasonable utility.

🔵 Gladius - the mark thing is... odd and mostly just don't worry about it.  If you're lacking in "never miss" heroes, though, this gives you a sniper who ignores blind and dodge, can't be silenced, and charges up faster when enemies buff.  If you have more modern "never miss," then probably give Gladius a miss, but not everyone has that luxury.

🟢 Leadria - Not a classic healer per se, but as a summoner, makes decent-size minions who give small persistent boost heals.  (note -- see above -- that you may well need 2LB to get full benefit, since minions/fiends have a 1000hp limit before 2LB, 2000hp limit after)  The longer the given fight goes, the better her ability is -- probably better in long PvE stages than many PvP, but don't overlook her decent attack boosts

🔴 Neema - Do you really, really, really hate Taunt?  Neema ignores Taunt, and her fiends persistently prevent new Taunts (note --again -- see above -- that you may well need 2LB to get full benefit, since minions/fiends have a 1000hp limit before 2LB, 2000hp limit after) Not bad at what she does, but it depends on how much other dispel/buffblock you may have to otherwise deal with Taunt.

Knights

🟣 Cecilia - Do you have dodge? If you don’t, much like Constance last FS, Cecilia does -- and a bit of boost-heal on dodge is a nice little bonus. (For PvP, watch out for foes with “never miss” Specials, though.)

🟡 Wolfgang - Without costume, he's rather showing his age, though with costume (available through VO later this year) he becomes about as big as you can get from FS, and a decent hit-all-and-moderate-boost-heal-over-time combo (plus keeping himself alive with damage reduction), chance of undispellable buffs.  A potentially decent contender.

🔵 Quintin - Bad news: he's one of the smallest FS choices you can take, meaning his sniper hit in itself won't wow you.  Good news: if you can land his mark (i.e. it's not monk-resisted or ailment-blocked etc), following him up with other hitters means the shared damage can be as near a guaranteed kill as you can get in this game.  (Also a chance to make his mark uncleansable, moreso if you have more Ravens.)

🟢 Teddy - If you're considering this little dorklet, it's because you're interested in Sleep.  Sending your entire enemy team asleep (modulo resistances, watch for ailment block, native resistances to Special blocking, Toon/Glass/Style S1 costumes, etc) is very powerful in principle, but you'd better play carefully thereafter -- if you wake enemies too soon/accidentally, Teddy is largely wasted.  If you can keep enemies asleep or wind up for a big punch while they have the big +damage received vulnerability, it can be tactically powerful.

🔴 ⭐ Daemon ⭐ - For raw power, such as it is, Daemon is near the top of the FS heap without needing a costume to do so.  But he's "just" a Very Fast sniper?  Hardly.  First, don't sneer too much at snipers generally; secondly, Daemon has potentially fantastic utility -- all at Very Fast, he does a priority dispel (critical against certain enemies with protections/wards/Taunt/etc up), turns off Talent (Fighter Revive, Monk Resist, Cleric Resist, etc), and crucially, shuts down the victim's ability to buff or debuff!  (Note that the latter doesn't stop Family or Passive abilities, just those from Specials, but still.)  That he does all this at Very Fast gives you a decent chance to pre-empt or quickly reply against devastating buffers/debuffers.

Towers (Owls, Magic)

🟣 Jett - choice of a quick light snipe with some DoT, or a slower buildup to hit-all. (Keep an eye out for poison immunes, e.g. Astral Elves, for what it's worth.)  --Also, passives can throw some heals and mana manipulation.

🟡 Willow - choice of a quick light hit-all that doesn't tolerate enemy defense buffs... or a slower buildup to VERY nice buffs (counterattack is better when you can survive the hit, and the ability to ignore enemy defenses and counterattack can be very useful).  --Also, like Jett, passives can throw some heals and mana manipulation.

🔵 Ulius - his minions and fiends both give different kinds of mana manipulation, doubleplustrue if in costume (but note Ulius won't be Visiting-Outfitter-allowed for quite some time, so that's playing the long game) -- also, as a dual summoner (note -- see above -- that you may very well need 2LB to get full benefit, since minions/fiends have a 1000hp limit before 2LB, 2000hp limit after)

🟢 Relius - Do you need a reviver bigger than what you already have?  Mix of healing, revive, and defensive ward is handy even when you don't need revive, the family bonus is a nice turnabout on attempted mana ailments on your reviver, the passive is potentially VERY powerful when it applies (since it constantly nerfs enemy mana-hax without need for action on Relius' part).  Note, however, that if you put Relius on defense, a reviver/healer is a Priority Target .. so ask yourself if the owl's stats will stand up under the incoming fire you expect.  (May still be useful for challenging PvE at worst, though.)

🔴 Eron - Fast sniper with some very nice utility; defense-down to all at Fast is notable, Shifting Mindless Attack is one of the best debuffs you can land when you can land it (note: it refreshes every time it shifts, which means you can potentially make it affect several enemies in sequence).  Extra nice that Eron never misses, so the debuffs won't miss.  Also note also that given the nature of Moonrise Strike, if you care about his damage, normal attack buffs (or debuffs) don't matter, but Growth and Wither do (and are more important, accordingly) -- but Eron's main usefulness comes from his debuffs.  (And the handy family bonus and situational but very powerful mana-hax-nerfing Passive.)

In general, I hesitate to give general recommendations because FS is so dependent on what your roster could use (or if your roster can even use heroes of these vintages at all), but

• as mentioned at the top, DAEMON really stands out in terms of sheer utility.  He's not a defender -- he's a very tactical attack hero -- but as enemies get more devastating abilities, Daemon's ability to shut them up gets better too, modulo his ability to survive.  If you're reading this guide, chances are very good you don't have that many "shut up" heroes bigger than Daemon.  Strongly consider taking him.

• Eron is as big as it gets this FS without needing to pick a costume AND has Shifting Mindless Attack AND defense-down to all AND the Owl passive.  A strong choice for many rosters and teams.

• for overall size and general usefulness, especially if you don't mind a moderate wait, Wolfgang - once you get his costume - is a nice combination of a hitter who heals a bit.  Can be dropped into a number of teams and has the stats to stand up as reasonably well as any Fated Summon could do, especially if you don't mind using a Visiting Outfitter pick later this year on him.

• if you have any of several particular needs (revive, dodge, sleep, marking sniper, mana-hax-nerfing), consider those heroes near the top of your picks

• several mages offer tactical flexibility in a number of ways. Being able to do two different things with one hero can be a handy trick.
  
  Good hunting!

-----------------------