Bob's Basic Guide to the Fated Summon

Fated Summon: July 2025 - Jan 2026

A set of impressions about the FS picks: I’m going to briefly touch on reasons why one might want to pick each choice.

A couple of important key points about this guide:

1. I’m not going to generally comment on the raw power level, because by definition these are old heroes. This guide is aimed at folks who are considering taking FS picks and actually leveling and using them in their own right.  -- As far as I’m concerned, Fated Summon (and even Soul Exchange) are really about “my roster is like, super missing something and while it would be nice to have a Modern Monster that does that thing, it’s better to have something than not.

2. It is true that Fated Summon plus Visiting Outfitter (and even plus Hero Coach) can be a worthwhile combo, of course, BUT keep in mind whether one of these FS picks would be a higher priority for you for VO than any queue of heroes you already have.  VO has settled on an every-three-months schedule, so it’s not worth taking too many FS picks “because maybe costume” when VO can thus far only supply four costumes a year including to heroes you already have, even before FS picks.

If you are thinking about costume upgrades, note that again for this FS list that is largely going to be S4 heroes; not only is the S4 costume a stats update, but the passive comes with overhealing-busting and a slight boost heal.

Season 4

🟣 Xnolphod - Average speed purple healer that straight-out hands out a small chunk of free mana to all allies

🟡 Zekena - Fast two-shot sniper (yes, an old sniper); the second hit (randomly targeted, but can double- tap a single target) still has notably sized defense-down

🔵 Exeera - uhhhh Sorry. This is... hard to justify other than for completionists. If you are running some kind of DoT combo against red-heavy/only opponents? (likely not even then; even her costume barely helps)

🟢 Lughaidh - Frankly, if you like weird Ghost mechanic. (It’s Slow, though, and his boost heal has aged quite poorly, though his costume would help somewhat.)

🔴 Octros - Average hit-all, depending on tiles, plus attack-down... but that’s about it, probably needs costume bonus to do much

HotM

🟣 Uthragan - though he always had a glass jaw (moreso now), the self-healing-from-DoT can still be pretty annoying/useful... though you need to watch for poison/ailment immunity. Still generally likely much more PvE than PvP today.

🟡 Ithar - Very Fast buff/mana steal actually holds its value moderately well, outside of Ithar’s general survivability

🔵 Areax - a Slow chain-hitter with a touch of DoT.. mostly just...older...damage (resisting Special blocking is okay, but is it enough?)

🟢 Cinisia - Average-speed hit-all.. but also heal-nerf and some DoT (which is more notable vs blue). It’s worth noting that her passive means her attack is generally higher than it looks

🔴 Skargremar - Average hit-3 that blinds and mana cuts. Watch for ailment block and native immunity, but potentially useful.

Musketeers

🟣 Aramis - How far has once-mighty Aramis fallen to be in FS? Undispellable ailment block is still notable, even if the hit-and-heal is no longer as big as it used to be, in relative terms.

🟡 Constance - Do you have dodge? If you don’t, Constance does. (For PvP, watch out for foes with “never miss” Specials, though.

🔵 Porthos - hits-all.. but likely tile shenanigans is what you’re considering here

🟢 Athos - VF sniper, also activates Cover at VF; one kicker is how much you want anti-regular-minions currently (or are willing to try to crank Athos up to do enough damage to knock out half a mega- minion’s hp, and use him as a budget MM-buster)

🔴 Cardinal Richelieu - buff-thieving fiends are still notable (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)

Tower of Magic

🟣 Becky - choice of a quick snipe that makes the hit foe mana cut their own allies, or a slower buildup to free mana to allies and Guardian Hippo action. (Also, passives can throw some heals and mana manipulation.)

🟡 Vaishali - tactical flexibility with cleanse and dispel; the cleanse happens fast with some light buffs, the dispel is slow but priority and comes with some sand DoT and attack debuff. Plus, mana manipulation passives. Also one of the most recent Magic heroes on offer...

🔵 Camilla - a quick boost heal with defense buff, or a slower max hp bite plus significant defense down vs Specials; nice two-way utility

🟢 Telonius - DoT is often not a top strategy, but it does ignore defense stats if you can land it. If you really want a DoT team, Telonius’ first charge is notably important, and the second charge is heal-3 but for eyebrow-raising high %, and counters DoT if you need to.

🔴 Nadezhda - one of these mages is notably older than the others. She is a reviver and does have a costume, but it will be some time before it comes online with VO, so that’s a long-game play...

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

• if considering bigger stats from picking up a S4 costume bonus via VO, Xnolphod as a healer and mana booster can still be useful

• HotM utility: if you want a quick thief or a debuffer, Ithar and Skargremar might be tactically useful on offense

• potentially notable Musketeer specials: Aramis’ undispellable ailment block, Constance’s dodge, Richelieu’s thieving fiends

• 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!